Russian Summer Salad Recipes

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add potatoes and carrot. Return mixture to a boil and add eggs; cook until potatoes are tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and slightly cool mixture. Chop potatoes and carrot; peel and chop eggs.
• Mix potatoes, carrot, eggs, pickles, peas, ham, and parsley together in a large bowl; stir in mayonnaise until salad is evenly coated.

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to boil. Season with salt.
• Add whole potatoes to the boiling water, and cook 15 minutes. Add whole carrots to the cooking potatoes, and cook both another 10 minutes. Remove potatoes and carrots with a spider when easily pierced with a cake tester or a very thin knife blade, and set aside in a bowl.
• Add frozen peas to boiling water, and using the spider, remove them to a separate bowl as they float, until all peas have floated and been transferred to the bowl.
• Gently add the eggs, and allow to boil 10 minutes.
• While the eggs cook, peel the potatoes and carrots under cold running water by rubbing them gently with your fingers. Rinse the peas under cold running water to cool.
• Once the eggs are cooked, drain them, and peel under cold running water.
• Neatly dice the potatoes, carrots, ham, eggs and cornichons to the same approximate (and rather small) size as the peas, aiming for uniformity. Gently toss them all together in a large bowl.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise with the cornichon brine, and pour over the salad. Toss gently with rubber spatula or using your fingers until the salad is well coated. Season with several hearty grinds of black pepper.
• Refrigerate overnight, and serve cold.

Steps:

• Put a very large saucepan of salted water on to boil. Cut the potatoes to marshmallow size, the carrots and celery into dice about two-thirds that size; and the French beans into 2cm/3⁄4in pieces.
• Add the vegetables in turn to the pan of boiling water, starting with the potatoes and ending with the peas. Cook until they are all just tender (neither crunchy, nor fondant). Drain and keep warm.
• Meanwhile, make the hollandaise. Put the egg yolks, vinegar and lemon juice into a blender and whizz for a few seconds. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a lowish heat, then raise the temperature and bring the butter to a bubble. Leave the pan to one side for a minute to allow the milky residue to settle.
• With the blender going, slowly pour a thin stream of butter through the lid. Continue adding the golden liquid until the milky sediment appears (discard it). Remove the lid, season the sauce and whizz for a few more seconds. Replace the lid and keep the hollandaise in a warm place (but NOT over direct heat) for up to 30 minutes.
• Tip the warm vegetables into a large mixing bowl and add the gherkins and (optional) capers. Very, very gently stir in the sauce, using a soft plastic scraper. Serve as soon as possible.

Steps:

• Toss the romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and parsley together in a large bowl; season with salt. Drizzle the lemon juice and olive oil over the salad; stir. Add the sour cream and mix until evenly coated.

Steps:

• Cook the carrots and potatoes in a pan of boiling salted water for 4 mins, then throw in the peas and cook for 4 mins more until all the vegetables are tender. Drain, cool for a few mins, then tip into a bowl with the cornichons, mayonnaise and parsley, if using. Mix well and season to taste. Delicious with leftover roast beef or lamb, wedges of pork pie or cold sliced ham or chicken.