Russian Salad – an easy summer salad

Russian Salad : Potaoes, peas, carrots , gherkins, eggs with low calorie dressing.

Thank you so much, everyone, for loving my post last week. I know some of you tried my sandesh, Spinach Saute and shared pictures with me. Thank you so much for doing so. It means a lot to a food blogger, trust me.

Every week we go for groceries on Friday. This week I had to go to three groceries as I am making russian salad. First I got gherkins and mayonnaise from Star Market, then ham and some vegetables from whole foods and the rest of vegetables from Trader Joe’s. It’s pretty much the story every weekend. I prefer to do the groceries on Friday and cook on Saturday and Sunday. It helps to save some time during marathon weekend chores.

Now let me talk about this week’s hero – Russian Salad. When I first time heard about Russian salad, I imagined having fancy ingredients in it. But it does not. It is much simpler than it sounds. Summer is all about easy cooking for me. I prefer to spend as much less time as I can.

Chop of boiled potatoes, carrots, gherkins(pickled cucumber), ham, scallions, boiled eggs. Toss it with peas a easy low-calorie dressing. I have used ‘Turkey Ham’ for the recipe as my husband is Jewish, and we do not eat Pork. Benefit of using turkey ham is that it’s also low in calories. You can entirely skip the ham in Russian salad, if you’re vegetarian.

I made a salad dressing with low-fat mayonnaise, yogurt, light cream, a tiny weeny bit of dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. Whip it up and mix with the chopped goodies, garnish if off with dill herbs – your hero is ready. It is perfect for Potluck, burger or sandwich parties, outdoor picnics. If you are not into the party like me, do not worry. You can just make for lunches or dinners.

This Russian Salad is popular in many European Countries and of course in Russia too. This is originated in 1860 by Lucien Olivier, a chef of the most famous restaurant known as Hermitage, which is why it’s also known as Olivier Salad. That being said, no one knows what the actual dressing was. Chef Olivier never shared his secret with anyone.
Although, it was confirmed that the salad contained grouse, veal, caviar, lettuce, crayfish, capers and smoked duck. It is also guessed that it was a type of mayonnaise, French wine vinegar, mustard and olive oil. I do not have Olivier’s recipe if you do, please share with me. One of Olivier’s sous chef tried to steal his recipe by looking at this spice arrangements for this salad. Later he sold whatever he found out but it was a lot inferior to original Russian Salad.

The original Russian salad had grouse, crayfish, potatoes, cucumber, lettuce, aspic, capers, olives and mayonnaise. Grouse can be replaced with veal or chicken. In modern days, the grouse was replaced by chicken or sausage, crayfish by hard-boiled egg, cucumbers, olives and capers by pickled cucumbers and green peas. One day I would love to go to Russia and have an authentic Olivier Salad. This salad has different names and varieties in different countries. Some versions do have meat and some does not.

You can see from this plate, how much delicious it was.

Recipe for Russian Salad

1 cup boiled potato, chopped

1 cup carrots (2 carrots), chopped

1 cup gherkins (2 gherkins), chopped

1 cup chopped ham (skip for vegetarian version)

3 bunch scallions, chopped

4 boiled eggs, chopped

1 cup fresh peas

Dressing:

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2  cup light cream

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

salt and black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon fresh dil, chopped (for garnish)

1. In a big mixing bowl, add potato, carrots, gherkins, chopped ham, scallions, eggs and peas.
2. In a small mixing bowl, mix mayonnaise, light cream, dijon mustard, salt and black pepper. With egg whisker mix it well. Spread it on top of the salad. Mix it well. Adjust the seasoning. Garnish with fresh dil and serve chilled.