Russian Salad

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My mom made, and still makes, this salad all the time. We don't really call it anything but potato salad. Often she adds shredded chicken or beef to this. On our trip to Spain, this salad made an appearance at almost every town. Ensaladilla Russo. I'm not sure what the connection is and why the Spaniards love this salad so much, but I made sure to try it everywhere. There were many variations. Most were meatless. I prefer the vegetable only version. During a recent visit to the restaurant Spain here in town, we ordered this salad, and it motivated me to go home and make my own, better version.

The two staples here are potatoes and carrots. I had the husband's cute little home-grown carrots to use. They were tender and sweet. And I used little red-skinned potatoes. Because I just prefer them. You need to boil both of these vegetables first, let them cool and slice them to whatever size works for  you. To these items I also added peas. I used frozen and steamed them first. My mom typically uses canned. At this point, you can get creative. I added lots of green onions, dill and parsley. Then, in went equal parts of mayo and sour cream, salt and pepper, and you combine everything gently. It's best to serve it chilled.

I made a large batch and we took it to lunch throughout the week. When it was all gone, we were both a little sad. But, it will make another appearance soon, at our upcoming tapas party.