Since I was quite young, my family moved around fairly often. We left our home in Moscow, Russia when I was only eight and moved to Israel. From there, we landed in Canada and I have spent a few years living in New York as well. With this many places to have lived before I hit my thirties, I have developed a very confusing palate when it comes to food.
Anyone who knows me well, knows I will eat anything!
Despite having a love for basically anything edible, I have always been more drawn to making traditional Russian meals at home. Perhaps it is the fact that I am able to swap recipes with my mother or the simple nostalgia that comes with eating something that you consumed as a child. Whatever the reason, I love me some Russian food!
One of my favorite (and very easy) recipes to throw together is for Olivye. It’s an Eastern European potato-based salad that can be put together fairly quickly and with minimal effort. I thought that since winter is in full force, it might be nice to share a new recipe for anyone that’s looking to try it out for those nights of staying at home and binging television.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Ingredients:
1 pound of ham (I sometimes sub crab meat for this and it works just as well!)
3 medium potatoes
4 medium carrots.
1 (15 oz) can sweet peas, drained or 2 cups of thawed frozen peas
5 boiled eggs
5 medium-large pickles (I use Vlasic)
1/3 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
3/4 cup to 1 cup mayo (to taste)
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
Recipe:
1. In the same pot, boil whole unpeeled potatoes and carrots for about 30 minutes, or until knife pierces them smoothly.
2. In a separate pot put eggs in salted cold water. Bring to a boil, turn it off and leave it on the same burner with the lid on for 15 minutes. Cool them down in cold water.
3. Remove the vegetables and eggs from boiling water and allow them to cool to room temperature prior to chopping. Skin the boiled potatoes and carrots with a small knife. It’s easier to skin the carrots if you make a slit down the length of the carrot and skin in a circle around the carrot.
4. Chop ham (or crab meat), potatoes, carrots, pickles and eggs into equal size dice (pea size).
5. Mix together potatoes, carrots, pickles, eggs, green onion, dill and mayo. Add more mayo, Salt and pepper to taste.
6. Fold in the peas last so they aren’t crushed.
(Recipe and main image credit: natashaskitchen.com)
And that’s it! You have your very own Olivye salad! The salad lasts for quite some time so you can make extras and dish out as you see fit.
Stay magical (and stay warm and well fed),
A.N. Sage
