Spring is finally in the air; Easter is just around the corner and the world is looking a little different again. I actually really love this time of year as it signifies a rebirth, hope, and a new life, both in nature and within many religious celebrations.
Growing up in a Polish family, it meant a full-on Easter prep-athon that involved cooking and baking of meats, cakes, and various dishes before the big Easter Sunday dinner. One staple that never seems to be forgotten is the Olivier salad, or in Polish Sałatka Jarzynowa.
Ask any Pole alive and they will swear this is a classic Polish dish, myself included, until one day when sitting in a Barcelona tapas bar staring at a menu that called our Olivier salad, Ensaladilla Rusa, or Russian salad. To my great surprise this salad did originate in Russia, but it was the invention of a French chef, Lucien Olivier from the Hermitage, one of Moscow’s most celebrated restaurants in the 1860’s.
Olivier took his original recipe to his grave, and since then the salad has taken on many modifications but the original ingredients, peas, potatoes, carrots, onions, pickles, eggs, and mayo, remain as a standard classic enjoyed by many cultures alike.
For me this salad is a holiday staple and particularly enjoyed during Easter, for some reason it always tastes the best in the spring.
Olivier Salad – Sałatka Jarzynowa.
INGREDIENTS
3 potatoes, cooked and cubed
3 carrots, cooked and cubed
6 eggs, cooked and cubed
3 Greenola baby dill pickles, cubed
¼ sweet onion, cubed
½ cup of cooked celery root, or fresh celery stalk
1 cup frozen fresh peas
1 cup mayo
salt and pepper, to taste
