Ensaladilla Rusa/ Russian potato salad

 ENSALADILLA RUSA

In Spain, there is quite a lot to talk about between families on how they prepare their ensaladilla rusa as everyone has their own way of making it.

As an example, I have my own experience when I was younger - my mum used to do it in the summertime and it was always great to eat fresh ensaladilla after a long day at the beach. Then I met my mother-in-law who was a great cook and she used to prepare it as a starter on special occasions, like a birthday party or even for Christmas Eve. She always made it with king prawns and beautifully diced red roasted peppers to garnish the dish.

Now, at my home, we like it at any time of the year, but preferably in summer and I also like to add some nicely diced king prawns.

The recipe is quite simple as it is basically boiled diced potatoes and carrots, and then add other ingredients like canned tuna in olive oil, green peas, and sometimes boiled egg and roasted red pepper. The key is to dice all the ingredients into the same size and to season the salad with a good mayonnaise. It is served cold from the fridge and obviously as a tapas dish or a small portion. 

Here is my version of the dish.

What do you need?

✅ 1 big saucepan or stockpot to boil the potatoes and carrots

✅ 1 salad bowl

✅ a chef knife

✅ 1 peeler

✅ 1 strainer

✅ 1 food ring 

Ingredients for 4 people

✔ 3 medium potatoes 

✔ 2 medium carrots

✔ 250g green peas (you can use canned ones or fresh or frozen, cook them according to package instructions)

✔ 150g canned tuna in olive oil

✔ 2 eggs

✔ 100g roasted red bell pepper

✔ 4 tbsp mayonnaise (you can find the recipe of mayonnaise here on my blog ;))

✔ 2 tsp mustard

✔ 120g cooked and peeled king prawns

✔ 100g anchovies stuffed olives (optional)

Method

Preparation of the salad ingredients

• First, we have to boil the potatoes and carrots. Fill your saucepan or stockpot with water. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut them in half, then in thick slices and then in small cubes of 1.5cm approximately. 

• Do the same thing with the carrots. Clean them all under your tap and add them into the water.

• Bring them to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes approx. What we want is them to be al dente but still a bit soft. 

• Once cooked, strain and leave it to cool.

• Then cook the green peas as per package instructions and leave them to cool too. If you find them fresh you should cook them in water for about 15 minutes, until they are a bit tender but crunchy.

• Now we boil the eggs, put them in boiling water with a bit of salt and cook for 10 minutes. Once cooked they can be cooled in cold water with some ice.

• The next step is to assemble the salad in a big bowl. Add the cooked potatoes, carrots, and peas. Then add the strained canned tuna without the oil. 

• If you like you can add anchovy stuffed olives. Slice them into small pieces too.

• Finally, you have to dice the roasted red peppers and add them to the salad.

• Cut the king prawns in small cubes and add them as well. Keep a few to garnish the dish.

• In a small bowl, put the mayonnaise and mustard, mix well and add this into the salad bowl. Carefully mix all the ingredients with the mayonnaise.

Assemble the dish

To assemble the dish I used a food ring which is a fantastic kitchen tool if you are looking for a cool presentation. This one is from Gefu #gefu from #boroughkitchen

Top the dish with one king prawn or a piece of roasted red pepper for a more colorful look!

In most of the Spanish tapas bars, you can see on the 'barra' or counter an ensaladilla rusa as a tapa to start a meal with a cold beer. They will offer you a small plate with 'picos camperos' which are tiny breadsticks.

Another way to serve the ensaladilla is on top of bread crackers like these ones you can see here!👇