Our Best Spanish Recipes: Ensaladilla Rusa

Over the years, we've naturally tried to recreate our favorite Spanish dishes at home. Cooking and tasting these traditional foods gives us pleasure. The real joy comes from sharing these foods with family and friends.

For more on our food experiences across Spain, see our Ultimate Guide to Spanish Foods.

Find our gazpacho recipe here.

Please note: we owe a lot to the original recipes from which we adapted, more or less, to our tastes. In particular, check out the Spanish Specialties section of The Vegetarian Epicure Book Two by Anna Thomas. We also make several of her bean salads.

Ensaladilla Rusa

Adapted from The Vegetarian Epicure Book Two, by Anna Thomas (Alfred A Knopf 1980)

3 large white-skinned potatoes
1 C cooked peas or more
1 C diced carrots or more
1/2 C chopped pimiento peppers
1/2 C Vidalia onion, minced
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp salt
Pepper to taste
Mayonnaise to taste
Garnish: parsley, pimiento slivers

Boil the potatoes whole, in their skin, until tender but not mushy. When they’ve cooled, peel them and dice them to about 1/4-inch cubes.

In a large bowl, combine the cubed potatoes, peas, carrots, onion, and pimiento peppers. Toss all the ingredients together with the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Taste to adjust seasoning.

Add a few tablespoons of mayonnaise and gently fold and combine until the salad is creamy. Use enough mayonnaise to hold things together, but not so much as to make it gloppy.

Turn the salad onto a large plate or platter. Add a dollop more mayonnaise and smooth it across the top and sides of the salad with the back of a wood spoon. Add garnish of bright pimientos on top, with parsley around the sides.

Refrigerate before serving.
Serves 8-10

Got a comment on this post? Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, or Threads and share your thoughts!