Ensaladilla Rusa, or Russian salad, is said to be the invention of Chef Lucien Olivier around 1860, in the Restaurant Hermitage in Moscow. Being secretive the original recipe wasn’t written down and so the Spanish adopted it and developed their own version. Nowadays you can find this dish, normally served cold as a tapa, in almost every restaurant and taperia in Spain.
Preparation time: 25 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Ingredients:
- 6 big potatoes
- 2 carrots
- 280gr cooked peas
- 750gr prawns
- 120gr of pitted green olives
- 1 can roasted peppers
- 4 boiled eggs
- 2 cans of tuna (80g tins)
- mayonnaise (preferably handmade)
- 10 crab sticks (optional)
Method:
- Peel the potatoes and the carrots and then cut them into small cubes.
- Pour water into a large saucepan, cover and bring to a boil on a high heat. Place your potatoes and carrot cubes into the pot and leave until they are cooked. You want to make sure they are not too soft, otherwise when you mix them together with your other ingredients you are going to have a bit of a mushy slush. Drain and then leave in a colander until they have cooled.
- Boil your eggs. You can boil them in the same saucepan along with the potatoes and carrots cubes or if you prefer you can do them separately.
- If you are using fresh prawns (which we’d recommend) peel them and then add to a pan of boiling water and cook until white and firm.
- Chop the roasted pepper, bolied eggs and the olives and then mix them witth the potatoes and carrot cubes, sweet peas and the canned tuna.
- Add salt to taste and then add the mayonaise. We add enough mayonaise to cover all the ingredients, but it’s down to personal choice and taste, how much you add.
- Serve, together with some fresh bread.
Recipe by kind permission of The Foodies Larder
The Foodies Larder is an artisan Spanish Food Hamper business. Based in Andalusia in Spain, each month they put together a curated selection of seasonal food and ingredients sourced from artisan producers around the country for their monthly hampers. A Foodies Hamper subscription provides a steady supply of delicious natural Spanish produce. Subscribers receive a fresh selection of gourmet products every month – each different from the last, and each based on the season. With each months hamper they also provide a menu card with with recipes that show customers how to create the best possible traditional Spanish dishes with each month’s ingredients.