22
May
2008
May
2008
Ensaladilla Rusa - Russian Salad
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In the United States, you can find several mayonnaise-based salads: potato salad, tuna salad, and egg salad. In Spain, they don’t really have any of that, but they do have Ensaladilla Rusa (Russian Salad). Ensaladilla Rusa is a combination of all of the above.
My wife had a Russian immigrant friend when she was a child and acquired intelligence that suggests that they really do eat this dish in Russia, but I have no other corroborating evidence. Personally, I have never seen this dish outside of Spain.
Ingredients
- Potatos - boiled, peeled, and mashed
- Eggs - hard boiled
- Olives
- Peas
- Corn
- Tuna
- Canned Fried Peppers (pimentos)
- Salt
- Mayonnaise
Instructions
- Set aside a few of the ingredients to decorate the top.
- Finely chop and mix all the other ingredients in a serving dish with a fork.
- Flatten the top.
- Put a very thin layer of mayonnaise on top to make it look white. (The rest of the salad is more gray.)
- Decorate as you wish. I often go with radially symmetric kaleidoscope-like designs (see photos), but I’ve done smiley faces and hearts and things.
Photos
Peas and corn waiting to be sprinkled on top
The final product. Notice the radial symmetry.
Enjoy! It’s a great side dish with any meat or fish.
Erik R.
Italy has “insalata russa” too. Ingredients vary…
Here, where it is a popular buffet item, it is not merely topped but drenched to within an inch of its life with majonesa. I would say that by weight mayo is the main ingredient here. They also tend to use mushy jarred peas and those flavorless diced carrots (also from a jar). Can’t say I’m a fan. The Spanish version looks a good deal more palatable.
Not my favorite dish, but it looks nice. Funny about the name, isn’t it? It’s kind of like the “tortilla francesa” thing. Why isn’t that just an omelet?
What was it like????
Pretty yummy. I like it. It’s mostly like potato salad, since the potatoes and mayo are the dominant flavors and textures, but the other ingredients spice it up nicely.
I remember that you made this for us on our first visit to you in Walsall. As a diehard mayo-phile, I really like it. I guess Russians must like it too since what we call “Russian dressing” is mostly mayonnaise. Now I do draw the line at putting it on French Fries as the Dutch like to do.
My ideal french fry condiment situation, that I developed over several years of eating “chips” in British pubs, is to have about a tablespoon of ketchup, and an equal amount of mayo, an inch away from the ketchup. Then each fry gets dipped once into each sauce, or sometimes into just one. As the meal progresses, and orange hybrid forms between the two, like a Bob Ross palette. Mmmmm!
. . . now that’s Russian dressing, or Thousand Island if you cut up pickles in it.
That is the prettiest “ensaladilla rusa” I have ever seen, yummm