Potatoes, Potluck
2 cups cooked chicken finely diced
2 lbs yellow or red potatoes cooked, peeled & diced (4 cups)
2 eggs hard boiled & diced
1 small red onion finely diced
1 cup frozen peas & carrots thawed
1/2 cup dill pickles finely diced
1 lemon juiced
1 cup good mayonnaise
Soraya served this as an appetizer to spread on crackers. All her ingredients were very finely diced.
Toss all together a day before serving. Refrigerate.
To serve, mound on a platter & garnish decoratively if desired.
Salat Oliviye, the famed Russian potato salad, was reportedly invented by a highbrow Belgian chef in Moscow named Olivier, using luxurious ingredients like caviar and veal tongue. As the recipe trickled down to home cooks in the 1900s, the ingredient list became considerably more accessible: potatoes, carrots, canned peas, and pickles. With each passing decade, families have adapted the formula to fit their own tastes, and the salad has been established as a celebratory staple ever since.
It's appeared on every festive table I’ve ever experienced—every birthday, every New Year’s Eve, every Easter. Although the ingredients were easily accessible, Oliviye was reserved for special occasions, its appearance symbolizing good times ahead. By no means is it meant to be the most delicious thing ever, but the tedious peeling and fine-dicing of each vegetable, hard-boiled egg, and pickle must contribute somehow to its exemplary taste—and certainly the satisfaction the cook has while eating it.