Whew, this week didn’t start out as planned. I originally wanted to share a delicious chocolate hazelnut meringue cake with you, but that obviously didn’t work out. I baked both meringues in the oven at the same time, so they weren’t both positioned at the same height which was a big mistake because one of them ended up being undercooked. That was a big fail and I still get mad when I think about it. Meringues seem easy to make, and I still think they are, but it all comes down to the oven and cooking time. I did improvise a bit in the end, so we did have a dessert to enjoy after dinner, but I just couldn’t post that as a recipe, there was really no point. I will go back to it one day and share a proper recipe with everyone. I was so over desserts for a day or two though, that I decided to make something completely different. A salad, but not just any salad, the best, most indulgent salad in the world – my mom’s vegetarian Salad Olivier.
Where do I even begin? I have been wanting to make this for months now. December is the big “Salad Olivier” month and I am so happy it’s finally here! Seriously, I am not overreacting. Salad Olivier, also known as Russian potato salad, is a holiday staple where I live. And it’s more than that, it’s a celebration staple. People serve this at gatherings, birthday parties, at any family event, and it’s always a big hit. When a bowl of this appears on the table, people reach for it, almost fight over it. It’s one of those situations where you wish you could just keep the whole bowl right there at your plate, but we all have to be fair and kind and pass it around. So, you take a few tablespoons, enjoy it greatly and then wait to see if there’s any left in the bowl in the end. As a host, I love to make a bigger batch and save some for breakfast the next day. Salad Olivier, fresh bread and some cheese – that really is a killer breakfast, really, what more could you want on a sleepy Christmas morning? Besides coffee of course.
