Using the green goddess dressing and fingerling potatoes completely transforms this humble potato salad!
Have I ever bragged about my amazing potato salad? Chances are you’ve heard about it before if you’ve been following me from the beginning.
You see one of the staples of Russian cuisine is salad Olivier, and as I am discovering it is quickly becoming a salad of choice for anyone I’ve ever cooked it for.
I often bring it to barbecues as it goes ideally with grilled meat. Over time it became known among my friends as “Russian Potato Salad” and one of the most requested items.
The original recipe was invented in 1860s in Moscow by a French chef and a fashionable restaurateur M. Olivier.
It was so wildly popular they could never take it off the menu. Many other chefs tried to duplicate it without success as chef Olivier never revealed his secrets and took the dressing recipe to his grave while the salad lived on.
The modern day recipe is not exactly the same as in the 19th century and my version will take you even further from the widely accepted one.
Traditionally it’s dressed with mayonnaise but Russian mayonnaise taste different, and by different I mean better. It’s much closer to the traditional recipe than the Hellmann’s version.
Today I am putting a little twist on it by sprucing it up with gorgeous Green Goddess dressing, which has a colourful pedigree of its own that I won’t talk about it now.
This version is a deconstructed Salad Olivier as all ingredients are usually cut into a small dice and smothered in dressing. I opted for larger pieces and used my dressing sparingly. You are welcome to mix it in as you wish.
I seriously never believed it was possible to improve on Russian potato salad until now and I have Ina Garten and her brilliant dressing recipe to thank for it.
This Green Goddess dressing is a flavour jackpot and it goes with everything. Try putting it on your regular ham and cheese sandwich and see what happens! What makes it so special? Um…just loads and loads of herbs blended with some mayo and creme fraiche or sour cream….and a handful of other ingredients.
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1 pound fingerling potatoes boiled
- 4 eggs boiled
- 5-6 small pickles
- 4 green onions
- 1 cup of cooked chicken chopped rotisserie chicken works well
- 1/2 green apple sliced (optional)
- 2-3 sprigs of dill
- salt
- pepper
- 1/3 recipe of Green Goddess Dressing
For the Green Goddess Dressing
- 1 cup mayonnaise I used low-fat
- 6-7 green onions white and green parts
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1 1/2 lemons juice of
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 anchovies
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2/3 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
Instructions
- Cut cooked fingerling potatoes in half and eggs in quarters, slice small pickles into 1/2" slices, chop chicken in pieces to match potatoes in size, slice green onions and apple and arrange everything on a large platter.
- To make Green Goddess dressing simply combine all ingredients except for creme fraiche in a food processor and process until smooth. Stir in creme fraiche.
- Drizzle the dressing all over the salad and serve more on the side if desired.
Larisa says
Haven’t seen anything like this close to salad Olivier before. Grand idea! I tried the dressing when my cousin made it, and really loved the taste. Will have to definitely make this salad your version. My mom used to grow fingerling potatoes here in Alaska, but she hadn’t had a garden for the last couple summers. That sort of potatoes is definitely also one of the tastier ones. Will need to lookout for it in the food markets. Thanks for posting the recipe! Stumbled on your site through olgasflavorfactory :-).
vikalinka says
I love fingerling potatoes because they are so cute but they are also perfect for a potato salad because they are waxy and don’t fall apart when boiled. Thank you for stopping by, Larisa, I hope you come back!
Bama says
Looks so good-I plan to make it next week, but what kind of pickles -sweet or dill?
Thanks for a great recipe.
vikalinka says
I only use dill but I suppose it depends on your taste. 😉 Thank you for visiting, Bama.
Stephanie - The Dessert Spoon says
Such a gorgeous salad – tasty and healthy but still substantial. Your photos are so beautiful!
vikalinka says
Substantial is the word to describe this salad! Thank you for visiting, Stephanie.
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
I love that green goddess dressing, what a tasty salad!
vikalinka says
Thank you, Laura! That dressing is a game changer. So much flavour!
Jennifer @ Seasons and Suppers says
Love this potato salad. So hearty with the potatoes and eggs and the dressing is perfect!
vikalinka says
Thank you, Jennifer! This salad makes an appearance at every bbq we have. My husband insists. And now my son’s become a huge fan as well. It’s fun to be able to pass family recipes on to the next generation!
Angela says
This looks great Julia. I have had something called Russian Salad before, but as you say it was all mixed in with mayonnaise. It definitely had all of these ingredients in, apart from the chicken and I remember there being a lot of celery. It was really tasty and layered with other things.
These pictures are lovely, that is such a gorgeous sharing plate and you’ve captured it perfectly. I shall have to give this recipe a try as I love potato salad.
vikalinka says
Thank you so much, Angela! I’ve seen various incarnations of this salad all over Europe, which I admit makes me pretty happy because it really is delicious. Thank you for visiting.