How to make the most delicious Russian salad yourself

Oh, Russian salad! Isn’t that the ultimate guilty pleasure? In our Russian salad supermarket taste test, we revealed which one is the best to buy, but making it yourself is of course always tastier. In Lekker Hollands—a tribute to Dutch cuisine with more than 70 recipes from the past and present—Rudolph van Veen shares his best recipe for Russian salad. 

Rudolph uses smoked chicken breast because it doesn’t need to be cooked, but especially because the smoky flavor is so delicious. From a humble supermarket tub to a festive starter: what a transformation!

• Peel the potatoes, cut them into cubes of approximately ½ x ½ cm and blanch them for 1 minute in boiling salted water. Drain the potato cubes in a sieve and immediately spread them out, while still warm, over a large sheet of kitchen paper or a clean tea towel. This allows the potato cubes to continue cooking and steam-dry nicely.
• Peel the apple and, just like the potatoes, cut it into cubes of approximately ½ x ½ cm.
• Dice the pickles and smoked chicken breast. Cut the spring onions into thin rings. 
• Mix the potato, apple, pickle, chicken cubes and spring onion together in a bowl and dress the salad with mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper. Let the salad absorb the flavors and chill in the refrigerator.
• Boil the eggs for 8 minutes, cool them in cold water, peel them and cut them into quarters.
• Boil the asparagus tips for 30 seconds in boiling water and immediately rinse them under cold water so they remain crisp.
• Use a cheese slicer to cut the half cucumber into long, thin strips. You only need one strip per person. Wash the lettuce leaves and green herbs and make four attractive little bouquets. Wrap a strip of cucumber around each lettuce bouquet to create a sort of ‘lettuce tree’.
• Plate the Russian salad attractively using a cooking ring or round cutter. Cut the radish into thin slices. Garnish the salad with the lettuce tree, wedges of boiled egg, asparagus tips and the radish.