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Mom´s Russian Salad

The Russian origin of this salad is disputed and in many places it is called Olivier salad.

I have tried many versions and this one below has always been my favorite. It is not suitable for squeamish spirits, as garlic and parsley are the key here.

Ingredients for about 4 people:

  • 2 piquillo peppers in thin strips.
  • 2 cans of tuna in pickled sauce
  • 1 can of olives stuffed with anchovies cut in halves
  • 4 carrots (cooked in salted water)
  • Parsley, about 7 or 8 sprigs, i.e. a lot of finely chopped or crushed parsley
  • 3 cloves of garlic (crushed in a mortar)
  • EVOO, salt and a little pepper
  • 4 pickled gherkins in vinegar (the good ones, here they are usually very vinegary, buy the sweet and sour German ones)
  • 3 hard boiled eggs
  • 5 large potatoes (boiled in salted water)
  • 100 g of green beans or one of those bags of frozen mixed vegetables (cooked in salted water).

Separate a piquillo pepper, the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs and one of their whites, together with some carrot and gherkin to decorate the dish later.

Make a potato paste with the fork or the potato presser and add the rest of the ingredients in small pieces. Mix everything very well with olive oil and the 7 or 8 chopped or crushed parsley sprigs.

A quick aioli is made with the mixer, to do it is put oil, salt, a pinch of German mustard, garlic and finally carefully add to the wall of the mixer glass a whole egg. Then put the handle of the mixer at the bottom of the glass (without lifting), emulsify and when you see that the sauce thickens, then you can lift the handle of the mixer a little to finish making the aioli. In this recipe I only make a little alioli to decorate the salad, inside it is mixed with EVOO, so it is lighter and more economical.

Now we take the salad and give it the desired shape in a bowl or tray and cover it with the aioli, if it is summer or you are in a hurry, you can use a purchased mayonnaise, Kewpie's is one of my favorites, or any other that you like, but of those that do not have a strong flavor, the blandest.

Finally decorate it by grating the cooked yolks of the eggs on top of the aioli layer, placing the piquillo peppers, olives, etc., as you like.