Russian salad Olivier with smoked chicken and homemade mayo

  • Level: easy
  • Total time: about 25 min. plus extra 10 min. for boiling eggs plus extra 25-30 min. for cooking vegetables
  • Yield: 1.5 kg
  • This traditional dish came to the Russian New Year’s table from the Sovietic times, which was invented in pre-revolutionary Russia and each housewife prepares it in hers own way, only an unchanged set of products remains.

Ingredients:

  • 1 smoked chicken breast (weigh approximately 300-400 g)
  • 3-4 potatoes
  • 2-3 carrots
  • 2 onions (you can use shallot instead)
  • 3 eggs
  • 270 g  can green peas (1 can)
  • 250 grams freshly frozen peas
  • 4-5 marinated cucumbers or gherkins (pickles — to taste )
  • 350 gr peeled and deveined shrimp

For homemade mayonnaise

  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
  • 200-250 ml of vegetable or olive oil
  • salt to taste
  • 50 g sugar
  • 50 ml fresh lemon or orange juice

Method:

  1. In a small saucepan, boil the eggs over medium heat for 10 minutes. Then drain the hot water and pour very cold, it helps the eggs be peeled properly. Peel the eggs and crush each egg in a small bowl with a fork or with food processor.
  2. In a medium saucepan, boil carrots and potatoes for 25-30 minutes over medium heat, readiness to check with the tip of the knife, if all the ingredients have become soft, it means ready. Drain and cool. Peel and chop vegatables. Potatoes should be the same size as carrots.
  3. Peel onions or scallot and chop. Chop pickles.
  4. Handle smoked chicken breasts. Remove skin and dice the chicken meat.
  5. Freshly frozen peas blanch (in boiling water) for 3-5 minutes, then drain and cool.
  6. Make the homemade mayonnaise. Place an egg in the bowl of the food processor and add Dijon mustard, season with salt and sugar. Turn the machine on and very slowly start to drizzle in the oil. Drip until the mixture starts to look like mayonnaise. The more oil, the thicker the mayonnaise. Whisk in 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh lemon or orange juice if the mayonnaise is too thick.
  7. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients, including shrimps and canned peas. Stir in mayonnaise , salt and pepper to taste, mix it thoroughly.