Olivier Salad

Olivier Salad is a Russian New Year's tradition. Some people call it Russian Salad. Old Russian New Year is coming up later in January and I decided to try this classic and share the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3 - 4 white potatoes, boiled, peeled and diced
• 3 large carrots, boiled and diced
• 5 eggs, hard boiled and diced
• 5 pickles, pickled in salt not vinegar, chopped
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 5 sprigs of dill, chopped (or more to taste)
• 1 can (approx 15 oz.) green peas, drained
• 1 cup Russian bologna, chopped (optional)
• 1/3 cup real mayonnaise (or more to taste)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Boil potatoes, carrots and eggs and allow to cool. 
2. Peel potatoes and eggs and chop them along with carrots in uniform pieces. 
3. Chop pickles, scallions and dill and mix together with potatoes, carrots and eggs. 
4. Fold in the can of drained peas. 
5. If you are using the bologna, chop and fold into the rest of the ingredients.
6. Fold in the mayonnaise. 
7. Add salt and pepper to taste. 
8. Chill and serve.

For this to be a more authentic Olivier Salad it's important to find the Russian brand bologna which is different from our American brand bologna and to use pickles that are pickled with brine and not vinegar. There is a Russian Deli close to me that had the right brand of bologna and the right pickles.

The original Olivier salad (pronounced o-liv-ee-ay) is named after Lucien Olivier, a 19th-century Belgian chef who ran the Hermitage Restaurant in Moscow. If you google Olivier Salad you can read it's interesting history. Originally it was made with more expensive ingredients and because some of those ingredients became very hard to acquire during the Soviet era less expensive ingredients that were easy to obtain became more standard. There are different variations of this salad.