Russian Olivier Salad

Russian Olivier salad is a traditional salad in Russia and former USSR to serve on a special occasion like a birthday party or New Year's celebration. This year I made it for my husband's birthday.

The ingredients list is very basic: potatoes, carrots, peas and others. Dressing is the Mayonnaise. As with many other Russian dishes this salad has a great taste but needs work in presentation. Making something smothered in mayonnaise look sexy is a challenge. I also use ham instead of usual bologna, which I believe changes the name to stolichniy. My approach is cutting ingredients into small enough pieces so that every bite has most of them and using a round dish to arrange the salad on an individual plate with fresh parsley (shown above).

Here is the recipe I use. But most Russians eyeball the proportions of the ingredients depending on their taste and what they have in the fridge.

Ingredients:

3 medium yukon gold potatoes, boiled and cooled
3 eggs, boiled and cooled
5-6 small carrots, boiled and cooled
1 can (15.25 oz) of sweet peas, drained
6 small pickles
1 medium apple
1/4 of ham
2/3 cup of mayonnaise
Salt and pepper
Fresh parsley for garnish

Preparation:

Peel all the vegetables and apple. Remove the egg shell. Chop potatoes, eggs, carrots, pickles, ham, apple into small cubes (about 1/3-1/2 of an inch). Pickles and apple can be cut into even smaller cubes. Combine cubed ingredients with peas in a large bowl and mix with mayonnaise. Salt and pepper to taste. Keep salad in a fridge and serve cold with some fresh parsley on top.