Olivier Salad

The Chef told me that he wanted to try Olivier Salad the weekend before we he was in my apartment. I cooked pasta and we both ate a lot. I don't know about him but I had difficulty sleeping and when I slept I had nightmares! So this past weekend he called me and he said he would go to a supermarket before I arrive and does all the shopping! That was wired but I didn't say much and agreed.

When I got to his place he said he already had made the food and had put it in the freezer to cool off! Fucking stupid! I don't know why he did both the shopping and cooking by himself this time but I asked him to take the food out! Olivier Salad , unlike what its name suggests has a Russian origin  but I guess a French chef invented it when he was working in Russia. Russians were obsessed with France and its culture back in the Tsar time. French was the second language of the country and knowing it was a sign of affluence! This meal can not be obtained in Canada It is made with the following ingredients:

1- Potato.

2- Egg.

3- Pickled Cucumber.

4- Green Pea.

5- Mayonnaise.

6- Salt and Pepper.

7- Chicken.

Basically what you need to know is Potato is the base of this meal, just like lettuce is the base for a salad. So you boil enough potato to create(!) the structure. Eggs should be boiled as well and you of course cook Peas and Chicken. When everything is ready, all the ingredients are mixed up after they are smashed, grated or pulled except Green Pea of course as there would be no need for that! A little Chicken Broth should be mixed with Mayonnaise before it is added to the mixture but not too much as it makes it runny. 

What The Chef had done was a disaster! There was no Egg while he insisted he had added 5! The Pickles had not been cut to small pieces so when chewing you would get a big piece of Pickle in your mouth! The percentage of Potato compare to the other ingredients was too low and he had added Green Chili Peppers! Being from south of Iran, the port city of Bander-e-Abbas he thinks he must add Pepper to everything to make it tasty! The good thing was the whole Peppers have been added and you would take them out, if you saw them but I accidentally ate one and my tongue was burning! 

Anyways I had some because in the morning I had been cycling for about 22 KM and I was hungry but that thing was not really Olivier Salad! However I didn't rub it in to his face and said it was good!

(Photo: I took this picture when half of the tray was empty but this is how it should look like except the fact that you should see more Potato and no Pepper! But all you see here is Green Pea, a little Potato, Green Chili Papers and Mayonnaise!)