Traditional Olivier salad recipes usually include meat, chicken, bacon or even sausage. However, the core of this salad is the combination of potatoes, pickles, ground black pepper and mayo. Olivier is basically an improved potato salad and all the rest of the ingredients compliment its taste.
As with any other salad, there is no one right way to prep it. You can vary the amount of the ingredients to suit your own taste. This recipe is vegetarian, it includes eggs, quail eggs in particular, which are superior to chicken eggs.
You will need:
- 20 potatoes, waxy white or yellow smaller size with thin skin are the best
- 2-3 carrots, medium size
- 6 pickled cucumbers, Bubbies Kosher Dill Pickles are the best for this salad
- 2-3 fresh cucumbers (optional, if you want to add some extra freshness)
- 5 medium size white onions, you can opt for less is you prefer to consume the salad right away, onion will marinade the rest of the ingredients within few hours.
- ½ cup canned green peas (optional)
- 20 quail eggs
- ½ cup smoked tofu or tempeh bacon (optional for a smoky flavor)
- 1 cup mayonnaise or more to taste
- Himalayan Salt (optional) to taste
- Ground black pepper to taste
- Optional hot spice (Japanese Seven Spice)
Place whole potatoes and carrots in a saucepan with slightly salted water. Bring to a boil and simmer until you can push the tip of a knife through the middle. Then cool down in cold water.
Boil quail eggs (2-3 minutes) and cool them down immediately to allow for the shells to peel easily. Remove the skin from potatoes and carrots and chop finely. Chop eggs, pickles and onion finely too.
Optionally add canned green peas. Peas need to be soft and tender for this salad. Optionally also add chopped smoked tofu or tempeh bacon. This will make the salad taste closer to the original recipe. Add mayo, ground black pepper and mix all together.
Depending on how salty the pickles are, you might not need any salt at all. After mixing all the ingredients, taste your salad. It might need some more character and definition to improve the taste.
If so, add some more chopped pickles, black pepper or chopped onion. If the mayo you are using is not very sour, consider adding a small amount of vinegar. Add Japanese Seven Spice if you would like the salad a bit more zesty. This salad is best when left to sit overnight in the fridge. This will allow the onion to marinade the rest of the ingredients. Olivier salad goes well with red caviar. It is also good in a lavash wrap.
You can also decorate the salad with crispy garlic or crispy jalapenos.
