Salad Olivier is a much more flavorful salad than the bland potato salad often served at American picnics. This Russian salad is famous world-wide and has many variations. The following is my take on the dish. It is really a meal in itself, but to take your picnic dinner over the top, grill some vegetarian Italian sausages and peppers to go with the salad.
Makes about 2 quarts.
Ingredients:
- 3 medium potatoes
- 2 carrots
- 1 c frozen peas
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 c onion, chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dry savory
- 1 tsp dry dill weed
- 1/2 tsp celery seed
- 1/2 tsp ground dry mustard
- 2 eggs, hard boiled
- 2 large dill pickles
- 2 vegetarian wieners
- 1/4 c fresh parsley, minced (reserve a sprig for garnish)
- 1/4 c green olives, finely chopped
- 1/3 c sour cream
- 1/3 c mayonnaise
Directions:
- Chop potatoes and carrots into pea-sized pieces. Put them in a large saucepan with the peas and barely cover them with water. Heat to boiling, lower heat and simmer about 10 minutes or until well cooked. Drain, return to the saucepan, stir in the salt and set aside to cool.
- In a small skillet, heat the oil over a medium low flame and saute the onion and jalapenos until tender. Add garlic and saute another minute or so. Add the savory dill, celery seed and dry mustard and stir about 30 seconds. Mix these ingredients into the potato mixture.
- Chop the eggs, pickles and wieners until they are pea-sized. Add the eggs, pickles, wieners, parsley, and olives to the potato mix.
- Mix the sour cream and mayonnaise together in a small bowl and fold into the salad. Refrigerate at least 4 hours to chill and blend the flavors. Turn into a serving bowl and garnish with a sprig of parsley.