Recipe origin: Russia
Ingredients
- 3 large potatoes
- 2 carrots, boiled and diced
- 4 hardboiled eggs; 3 should be chopped and 1 cut into quarters for garnish
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- 2 dill pickles, chopped
- ½ cup canned or frozen peas, drained
- ¼ pound bologna, chopped
- 2 to 4 Tablespoons mayonnaise
- 4 to 6 large lettuce leaves
Procedure
- Peel the potatoes, cut them in half, and place them in a saucepan. Cover the potatoes with water, heat over high heat until the water boils, and simmer until the potatoes can be pierced with a fork (about 15 to 20 minutes). Drain and allow to cool.
- Repeat the same process with the two carrots.
- When both are cooled, cut into cubes and place in a large mixing bowl.
- Add remaining ingredients (except mayonnaise) and toss gently to combine.
- Stir in 2 Tablespoons of mayonnaise, or enough mayonnaise to hold ingredients together.
- Arrange clean, dry lettuce leaves on a platter, and mound the salad in a pyramid shape in the center.
- Spread more mayonnaise over the top of the salad like frosting.
- Garnish with hardboiled egg slices.
Serves 6 to 8.
From the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917 until 1981, all of the restaurants in Russia (then part of the USSR) were owned and operated by the government. Most stores were run by the government, too. Due to food shortages and inefficient store management, families had to stand in long lines to buy bread, meat, and other basic food items. In 1981 President Mikhail Gorbachev began reforms that culminated in the 1991 breakup of the USSR and the beginnings of a democracy. But the sale and purchase of food was still regulated by the government as of the end of the twentieth century.
