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| Luncheon plate: Russian salad, smoked sardines, egg, tomato, pickled red onions on a bed of shredded lettuce. |
Ensaladilla rusa, Russian salad, consisting of potatoes and other cooked vegetables folded into olive oil mayonnaise, is a tapas bar classic. Although it never really disappeared from old-style taverns, the dish has made a comeback even in fancy restaurants with myriad variations on the traditional.
Ensaladilla rusa as I learned it in a pueblo tapa bar 55 years ago: potatoes, carrots, canned peas and red pimiento, cooked egg, and mayonnaise. It was served mounded on a platter and topped with canned tuna and a few olives. The mayonnaise was made fresh, either by hand or in a blender, with no-label virgin olive oil pressed from the proprietor’s own olives.
Fast forward to this summer. An article in Diario Sur, the Málaga daily newspaper, listed 30 variations on the classic Russian salad. Some restaurants got inventive with additions and toppings: sliced strawberries (!); diced ibérico salchichón (a salami-type sausage); smoked eel; chopped octopus with pimentón; partridge in escabeche, or with the accompaniments: olive foam, anchovy spheres, purple potato crisps, black olive dust.
In spite of its name, Russian salad is not Russian, but an entremêts, a French banquet dish that was popularized by French chefs elsewhere on the continent and beyond (it was mentioned in England as early as 1846). It was all the rage in Czarist Moscow in the late nineteenth century. In Spain “ensalada rusa” appears in 1864 on a banquet menu celebrating a new rail line in Valladolid. (For more about the history of ensalada rusa see this story in El País.)
More recently, after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, 2022, Chef José Andrés (founder of World Central Kitchen which provides food relief in Ukraine) and other chefs tried to rename the salad “Kiev Salad” or “ensaladilla ukraniana.”
While I have sampled ensaladilla made with perfectly diced potatoes and carrots, the trend seems to be to make it by smashing the potatoes making a mixture both creamy-mash and chunky. The potatoes matter: neither a waxy potato nor a floury one. New potatoes are best. The Kennebec variety (Galician potato) is especially good. Cook the potatoes whole and unpeeled until tender when tested with a knife.
Bottled mayo has the benefit of being safe from salmonella. But it is homemade mayonnaise with extra virgin olive oil that sets Spanish Russian salad apart from any old potato salad that might turn up at your Fourth of July potluck.
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| Choice of toppings and garnishes: smoked sardines are classier than canned tuna; pickled onions or cucumbers add tang, grated hard-cooked egg is smooth, and chopped crisp-tender green beans add texture. |
“Russian” Potato Salad
Ensaladilla Rusa
Sometimes the add-ins such as tuna are incorporated in the salad with the potatoes, other times they are used on top as garnish. I’ve used smoked sardines, a gourmet alternative to tinned tuna, and garden green beans. A list of other ingredient options is included in the recipe. A recipe for homemade mayonnaise follows.
Serve ensaladilla rusa as a starter, a lunch salad, or a side dish with your favorite barbecued ribs and burgers.
Serves 6-8.
4 medium potatoes (about 1 ½ pounds)
Salt
1 large carrot
1 large egg
3 ounces fresh green beans, topped and tailed
Freshly ground black pepper
Pitted olives (black or green, stuffed or not)
1 cup olive oil mayonnaise (recipe follows)
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| Crunchy chopped beans. |
Smoked sardines
Canned or fresh tuna
Cooked shrimp
Cooked peas
Shredded lettuce
Pickled onions or cucumbers
Sliced radishes
Cherry tomatoes
Strips of red pimiento
Capers
Cooked asparagus or artichoke hearts
Chopped parsley or chives
Place the unpeeled potatoes in a pan with salted water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook on moderate heat 10 minutes. Add the carrot and cook 10 minutes longer. Add the egg and cook 10 minutes more or until the potatoes are tender when tested with a knife blade. Drain well. Plunge the egg in cold water.
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| Crush potatoes. |
Cook the beans in boiling water until crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain them and refresh in ice water. Place the cooked beans in a mini-processor and chop coarsely. (Alternatively, cut the beans in thin julienne strips.) Set aside.
When the potatoes are cool enough to handle peel them and place in a bowl. Use a fork or potato masher to crush them slightly, leaving lumps of varying sizes. Peel the carrot and either likewise mash it or cut it in small dice. Season the potatoes and carrots with 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper. Add the olives, whole or sliced.
Reserve about ¼ cup of the mayonnaise for garnish. Stir the remaining ¾ cup into the salad, combining well. Taste the mixture and add additional salt if necessary. If not to be served immediately, cover and refrigerate the salad until ready to serve.
Spread the salad on a platter or individual plates. Top each serving with a spoonful of the reserved mayonnaise. Grate the cooked egg into a bowl and spoon it over the salads. Scatter the chopped green beans over the salad. Garnish as desired with sardines or tuna, lettuce, radishes, and tomatoes.
Olive Oil Mayonnaise
Mayonesa Casera con Aceite de Oliva
Use your best fruity extra virgin olive oil for this mayonnaise. If raw egg could be a health problem, substitute jarred commercial mayonnaise in the recipe. Used for the ensaladilla rusa, the mayonnaise is enhanced with a little “hot” pimentón (paprika). Add garlic if you like, a spoonful of Dijon mustard, or any fresh herbs.
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| Mayonnaise is quick to make in blender. |
Makes about 1 cup.
1 large egg
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pimentón picante de la Vera (smoked hot paprika)
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar
Place the egg in a blender container. Add the parsley, salt and pimentón. Add all of the oil. Run the blender without moving the blade until the egg and oil emulsify and thicken. Once the mayonnaise has thickened move the blade up and down a few times to incorporate any oil that didn’t mix. Add the lemon juice and vinegar and blend again.
Keep the mayonnaise, covered and refrigerated, up to one week.
Potato Salad with Lemony Dressing and another ensaladilla rusa recipe.
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FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, The Culinary Legacy of Spain, will be published August 12, 2025! See Meatballs with Backstory for more about what’s in the book and to view several of the page spreads. See advance reviews at Advance Praise for Flavors of al-Andalus.
This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking.
Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times. Dishes from this era include exotic spices such as saffron, the use of fruits and almonds with savory dishes, and honeyed sweets and pastries. The flavors of al-Andalus live on in modern Spanish cooking and are what makes Spain’s cuisine distinctive from the rest of Europe. (Hippocrene Books)
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