Russian Salad

Ingredients

• 400 g Potato
• 200 g Carrot
• 150 g Peas
• 80 g Cornichons
• 20 g Capers
• 1 whole Egg
• 200 ml Sunflower oil
• 1 tbsp Lemon juice
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 whole Hard-boiled egg
• 1 tsp Salt

Steps

1. Peel the potatoes and carrots and cut them into very small, even cubes of about half a centimetre so they cook uniformly and look neat.
2. Bring three small pots of lightly salted water to a boil and cook each vegetable separately: carrots about 8 minutes, potatoes about 10 minutes, and peas about 5 minutes, until tender but not mushy.
3. Drain and spread on a tray to cool completely.
4. Make the mayonnaise: in a tall jug combine one whole egg, the lemon juice, a pinch of salt and the mustard.
5. Pour in the sunflower oil in a thin stream while blending with an immersion blender until thick and pale.
6. Drain the cornichons and capers, then finely chop the cornichons.
7. Reserve a few whole ones for garnish.
8. In a large bowl combine the cooled potatoes, carrots and peas with the chopped cornichons and capers.
9. Fold in about two-thirds of the mayonnaise, mixing gently with a spatula until every cube is coated.
10. Taste and adjust with salt and a splash of the cornichon vinegar.
11. Transfer to a serving dish and level the surface smoothly with the spatula, pressing lightly to compact it.
12. Spread the remaining mayonnaise over the top in a thin even layer to seal the surface.
13. Decorate with the reserved whole cornichons, slices of hard-boiled egg and a few capers.
14. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving so the flavours marry and the salad firms up.

Tips

• Cube the vegetables before boiling, not after, and cook each one separately so the potato starch does not muddy the carrots or peas. For a richer mayonnaise in the Piedmontese tradition, blend in a mashed hard-boiled egg yolk. The salad keeps well for two days covered in the fridge — in fact it tastes better the next day.