2 hours, mostly cooling · make ahead
Olivier Salad with Pickled Black Shimeji
A holiday potato salad: potatoes, carrots, eggs, peas, ham and pickles in mayonnaise, with pickled black shimeji.
- Time
- 120 minutes
- The jar
- Pickled Black Shimeji
- Ferment
- 24 days
Olivier salad, often called Russian potato salad, is a New Year's favorite in many Eastern European homes: boiled potatoes, carrots and eggs, peas, ham and dill pickles, all cut small and bound in mayonnaise.
Some families stir in pickled mushrooms, and Golden Grove Pickled Black Shimeji suit it well: their brine is apple cider vinegar with dill, so they sit right next to the pickles and add a savory, tender bite.
Ingredients
- 3 medium potatoes (about 1 lb / 450 g)
- 2 medium carrots
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup (150 g) frozen peas, cooked as the package says and cooled, or canned peas, drained
- 7 oz (200 g) cooked ham or boiled chicken
- 3 dill pickles
- ½ jar Golden Grove Pickled Black Shimeji, drained
- 2 green onions or a small bunch of dill, chopped
- ¾ to 1 cup mayonnaise
- Salt and black pepper
Method
- Boil the potatoes and carrots whole, in their skins, until a knife slides in easily, 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and let them cool for at least an hour: cold vegetables cut into neater cubes.
- Hard-boil the eggs for 11 minutes, then cool them in cold water and peel. Cook the frozen peas as the package says, then drain and cool them.
- Peel the potatoes and carrots. Cut them, the eggs, the ham and the pickles into small, even cubes about the size of a pea.
- Roughly chop the black shimeji, keeping a few whole for the top.
- Put everything in a large bowl with the peas and the green onions or dill.
- Shortly before serving, fold in the mayonnaise, season with salt and pepper, and top with the whole black shimeji.
Why this jar
Black shimeji are pickled for 24 days in apple cider vinegar with dill and garlic, the same family of flavors as the dill pickles already in the bowl. Their dark caps also stand out against the pale salad.
Make it ahead
Cook and cube everything up to a day ahead and keep it covered in the fridge. Fold in the mayonnaise shortly before serving so the salad stays fresh.
For the holiday table
Set it out on a zakuski table with herring, rye bread and a beet and potato salad.
Swap the jar
Pickled Crimini give the same savory bite with a more classic mushroom flavor.