It is difficult to imagine a New Year's table without the traditional Olivier, which we also call the “Winter” salad. On pre-holidays, almost every family prepares to prepare this dish: people buy potatoes, sausages, eggs, canned green peas, pickles and mayonnaise. And few people know that there are a lot of recipes for the “Winter” salad. There are simple options for this dish, as well as original ones with the addition of exotic ingredients.
A bit of salad history
The Olivier recipe was invented a very long time ago. He appeared somewhere in the middle of the XIX century. The creator of the salad is the cook Lucien Olivier. At that time he was holding a restaurant of Parisian cuisine in Moscow. Unfortunately, the cook did not leave his own hand-written recipe. The first publication, which is currently known, appeared in 1894 (11 years after the death of Lucien Olivier).
The first recipe was written in the journal Our Food. It indicated what is needed for the “Winter” salad. The stages of cooking at that time were as follows:
- Fried grouse, cooled and cut into slices. Unbroken potatoes were boiled. It was also cut into slices. Sliced fresh cucumbers were added. Capers and olives were put in an almost ready dish. All ingredients were mixed.
- At the next stage, we began to prepare dressing for the dish. Kabul sauce was added to an ordinary Provencal sauce for a piquant taste. Ready dressing was put in a salad.
- At the end, the dish was decorated with crayfish necks, lettuce, lettuce and chopped lanspeak.
Common recipe and cooking tips
Now many housewives are preparing a “Winter” salad according to a greatly simplified recipe. Instead of hazel grouse, they take ordinary sausage, instead of cooked sauce - shop mayonnaise, and instead of capers and olives - canned green peas. Sliced chicken eggs are added to the dish. At will, some put pickles.
The recipe is really very simple. However, there are still some recommendations for cooking. Experienced housewives advise adding mayonnaise not once, but several times in small portions. The fact that you can make a mistake with the volume of mayonnaise and inadvertently put it too much. Because of this, the taste of the dish deteriorates a little, becomes inexpressive (mayonnaise). When adding small portions, this will not happen, because it will be possible to focus on the consistency of the salad.
Another recommendation will be useful to those people who love the "Winter" salad with cucumbers. In the process of cooking, it is recommended to use young salad cucumbers, rather than pickled ones. Thanks to them, the taste of the salad will turn out more fresh.
Original version of the dish: Olivier with sprats and beans
A “winter” salad is such a dish with the ingredients of which you can safely experiment. For example, you can take sprats instead of sausages, and beans instead of green peas. Why not try this Winter Salad recipe?
To prepare the original dish you will need the ingredients:
- salted sprat fillet - 150 g;
- potatoes - 3-4 pieces;
- eggs - 4 pieces;
- salted mushrooms - 100 g;
- canned red beans - 1/2 cans;
- onion - 1 piece;
- mayonnaise - 4 tbsp. spoons;
- dill and parsley, black pepper, salt - to taste.
Cooking progress
Begin cooking the “Winter” salad with a salt sprat recipe. Grind it into small pieces. Then boil the potatoes and eggs, peel and cut into small cubes. Rinse the mushrooms thoroughly. Slice them for the Winter Salad. Chop the onion at the end. Mix all the prepared ingredients for the Winter Salad in a deep cup. Add red bean from a can, finely chopped greens and pepper. Mix again, try and salt to taste. The dish is almost done. Just add the last ingredient - mayonnaise. Before serving, decorate the salad with chopped herbs and small pieces of sprats.
Olivier with Kiwi and Chicken Ham: Preparation of Ingredients
This is a rather unusual combination. Kiwi and chicken ham are chosen by some modern hostesses for preparing the “Winter” salad. This dish can certainly surprise guests, because few people have tried it.
What is needed for a “Winter” salad with kiwi and chicken flavor? Take the following ingredients:
- potatoes - 3-4 pieces;
- a couple of eggs;
- chicken ham - 300 g;
- Korean carrots - 200 g;
- kiwi - 3 pieces;
- fresh cucumber - 1 piece;
- mayonnaise - 4-5 tbsp. spoons;
- salt to taste.
Cooking
Boil potatoes and eggs, peel and cut into small cubes. Then take the cucumber. Remove the peel from it and also cut into cubes. In a similar way, prepare for a kiwi salad, chop the ham. Combine all chopped ingredients. Add Korean style carrots to the salad cup. Salt the dish, season with mayonnaise and mix thoroughly. To serve, beautifully decorate the salad. Take a plate and lay the lettuce leaf. On it, begin to lay out the olivier so that a slide is obtained. Garnish the dish with kiwi slices on the sides.
Olivier with pickled grapes
With what ingredients the housewives do not experiment with when preparing the “Winter” salad. They even try to add pickled grapes to the dish. The taste is quite interesting - for an amateur.
The list of ingredients for the "Winter" salad includes:
- white poultry - 250 g;
- several potatoes (by weight per 250 g);
- eggs - 5 pieces;
- pickled grapes - 150 g;
- green peas - 150 g;
- a few tablespoons of mayonnaise;
- parsley and salt to taste.
Stages in making salad
Take a saucepan, pour water into it, add a little salt and put on fire. Put white poultry meat (chicken) in it. Boil, then cool and cut into thin strips. Next, boil the potatoes and eggs. Peel these ingredients and chop. Chop the greens. Mix all the ingredients in a deep cup. Add pickled grapes, green peas. At the end, salt the dish and season with mayonnaise. Before serving, put the salad on a plate and decorate with greens.
Interesting ideas for salad dressing and serving
Modern hostesses can not worry about dressing the “Winter” salad, as mayonnaise is sold in stores. However, his taste is familiar to everyone. A salad made with mayonnaise is hard to surprise anyone. If you plan to cook olivier for guests, then you can try and make an unusual dressing yourself. For example, mix 2 tbsp. tablespoons of mayonnaise with 2 tbsp. spoons of sour cream. Add to this mixture 1 tbsp. spoonful of lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon horseradish. Shuffle the resulting dressing. If you add it to the salad, then give the dish a more delicate taste with spicy notes.
There is a simpler composition for the "Winter" salad. Take 2 tbsp. tablespoons of mayonnaise and put them in a blender. Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil there. Grind a clove of garlic, chop 1 teaspoon of fresh dill and parsley. Pour it all into a blender and beat.
And now about the options for serving. Standard dish is decorated with greens - lettuce, parsley. Additionally, you can put halves of quail eggs on the edges of the plate, and capers or green peas on top of them. This option is suitable if the composition of the "Winter" salad includes these ingredients.
A very interesting and unusual idea of serving dishes is a salad in halves of pears. To realize this option, large, fresh fruits are required. Cut them, remove seeds and pulp, leaving walls about 7 mm thick, and fill the halves with the prepared dish. It is recommended to take a mild salad without salted ingredients (mushrooms, cucumbers, etc.). For dressing, mayonnaise mixed with sour cream is desirable.
There are a lot of options for the “Winter” salad. Of course, some options may not be pleasant, because everyone has different tastes. When choosing original, exotic recipes, first try preparing a small amount of salad for the sample. If you get a “Winter” salad delicious, then boldly prepare the dish for the whole family or guests.