Russian Salad

This is a very delicious salad and a very good side dish with everything! Mostly it is made to accompany beef and poultry recipes, specially grilled barbeque.

There are so many variations of this classic potato salad, some even without the potatoes, but this one  is the main one we make at home: potatoes, peas, carrots, and mayonnaise. I like to add a little bit of vinegar, sometimes lemon juice.

Some people add to it eggs, pickles, apples, green onion, depends on the taste.  Add any if you love it!

Russian Salad

Ingredients

2 large potatoes, diced

3 carrots, diced

1 cup and half of frozen peas

handful of chopped parsley

1 cup and half of mayonnaise 

Salt

1 teaspoon and half of white vinegar

Olive oil

Method

Cut the vegetables into cubes and cook them in boiled water separately, because each has its own cooking time. The ideal point is al dente.

Place cooked vegetables in a bowl.

 

Season with olive oil, salt, vinegar and then add the mayonnaise and the parsley.  Mix gently to avoid any veggies from breaking out/mashing.

Serve cold.

ENJOY! 

Oven Fries

I stopped frying potatoes.. has anyone as well? It seems that I should start doing healthier versions of things.. and this is one of them. The recipe if quite easy, and does not let the whole kitchen smell from the frying oil! that is good! instead, it adds a nice aroma to the whole kitchen since I add to it rosemary..! I advice you that you should try this and stop deep drying! Good for our health..! :) I am planning to add it it other flavors, like garlic, Parmesan, paprika, seasoned salt, etc.

Ingredients

4 whole potatoes
Salt to taste
Dried Rosemary as per taste
4 tbsp of Olive oil

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Cut in long position the potatoes in half. Once there is separate half, cut it again in half, so each potato should have 4 wedges. Wash and rise.

Add to a bowl the wedges, then around 4tbsp of oil, sprinkle of salt and dried rosemary. Here you can play as much as you want! Place in a baking pan the seasoned wedges, and place in the oven.

Flip the wedges from time to time. I used to flip them anywhere between 20 and 30 minutes. Bake for around 1 to 1.5 hours depending how soft you want it. Insert a toothpick to decide.

ENJOY!

Potato Fritters

Potato Fritters

Ingredients

5 Potatoes
1 palm of chopped fresh mint
1 palm of chopped fresh parsley
around 2tbsp of dry mint
6 eggs
Flour
Salt and pepper

Method

- Peel and shred potatoes. Soak them in water with salt. Let them sit for 12 minutes.
- Add in a bowl, place the chopped mint, parsley, and dry mint.
- Whisk in a small plate the eggs, set them aside.
- Now you will feel that the shredded potatoes are softer, from the salt, so remove water from them and wash them a couple of times again. Once they are washed, press on them with your hand doing batches until all water you can remove from them are gone. Place each batch on the green mix.
- Heat oil for deep frying.
- Once all shredded potatoes are in the bowl, drop the eggs on them, and put salt and pepper. Add flour as much as you need until the consistency if good to make fritters from it. I usually add for this recipe around 5 heaping tbsp. Mix them with your hands and if you need more flour, drop in few.
- With the help of 2 tbsp, take a small portion and start giving it shape with the spoons, making it look a small ball. Drop it in the oil and fry in each side. Allow it to brown a little from each side.

Its delicious as a side dish and even delicious with lentil soup. Yum