Russian SaladThe original recipe of Olivier's famous Russian salad is unknown. He was a Belgian chef at the Hermitage Hotel restaurant in Moscow and he started to serve this salad in the 1860, soon it became one of the most popular dishes of the Hermitage restaurant.
Years by years the recipe became famous in all the European and Middle-East countries with many different variations.

This recipe comes from Nina, Federica's Russian friend, so we can consider it a 100% Russian dish :-) In Russia it is pretty common to substitute the chicken with kolbasa, a sort of mortadella, it is a variety of sausage made from ground meat and wrapped in a special casing. Another common variation is to add some sliced apples to give it a bit of acidity.

In Italy the Russian salad is a common dish during Holidays like Christmas and Easter, but I never put the chicken inside, so I was nicely surprised when I first looked at Nina's recipe to find it in the ingredients list! I'm sure it's even more tasty and I'm looking for having some friends over and make it!

Enjoy Nina's Russian Salad and prijatnogo appetita!!
Federica and Nina

...