I make this Russian potato mushroom salad on the days when I don’t feel like eating meat or fish, or when I want to make something in advance for dinner so I can have a relaxing evening. It can be mixed with salad greens to make it even more nutritious, or just eaten as is, which is the way I prefer because unfortunately I’m not a huge fan of eating leaves.
This is a truly nourishing dish, with mushrooms providing a lot of nutrients, including the very important vitamin D (source). Vitamin D is pretty hard to find in decent concentration in food. Cold boiled potatoes are one of the best sources of resistant starch, which is a perfect food for your friendly gut bacteria. With a ton of research emerging on the direct relationship between the condition of your gut and most all degenerative diseases – you should really try to be learn what foods can help you increase the amount of good bacteria in your digestive system. Kefir, sour cream and lacto fermented pickles are all excellent sources of friendly lactic acid bacteria, so eating them along with the cold boiled potatoes accomplishes two things – populates your GI tract with probiotics while providing food for those probiotics to grow and multiply in your large intestine.
Plus, it is plain delicious! In the old country, this salad was made mostly to entertain guests during holidays and birthdays.
- 1 small onion
- 1 tablespoon of butter or [url href=”https://www.beetsandbones.com/how-to-make-clarified-butter-and-ghee/” target=”_blank” title=”How to Make Clarified Butter and Ghee in Slow Cooker”]ghee[/url]
- 3 cups of mushrooms of your choice (I used cremini today)
- 2 large Yukon gold potatoes, boiled and cooled
- 2 pastured hard boiled cold eggs
- 2 [url href=”https://www.beetsandbones.com/lacto-fermented-cucumber-pickles/” target=”_blank” title=”Lacto Fermented Cucumber Pickles”]lacto fermented cucumber pickles[/url] (make your own, or buy brands like Bubby’s, that are naturally fermented)
- 2 tablespoons green onions or chives, finely chopped
- Small bunch of finely chopped dill and parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3 tablespoons pickle juice (liquid from the cucumber pickles)
- 1/4 cup kefir (preferably [url href=”https://www.beetsandbones.com/make-kefir-and-why-you-should/” target=”_blank” title=”How to Make Kefir, and Why You Should”]homemade[/url])
- 3 tablespoons sour cream
- Chop the onion finely and saute it with butter or ghee in a medium pan until fragrant and slightly translucent.
- While the onions are cooking, chop the mushrooms to 1/4 inch square chunks. Add to the onion pan, and saute until their liquid evaporates. Set aside to cool.
- Peel the skin off the potatoes, and chop them to 1/4 inch pieces. Dice eggs finely.
- Cut pickles to 1/4 inch bites.
- Toss mushroom/onion mixture with potatoes, eggs and pickles.
- Add green onions or chives, dill, parsley, salt and pepper. Toss.
- Add pickle juice, kefir and sour cream. Mix everything together.
- Allow to sit in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight for best flavor.
2 comments
I made this yesterday for tonight’s dinner. I made it because my husband loves mushrooms, and I thought it would be nice. After I made it I taste-tested it, and thought ‘it’s ok’ but I wasn’t overly impressed.
Well! That’s what happens when a dish is meant to be marinated! After the full 24 hours in the fridge with flavours blending – WOW! I really loved it. I thought I would like it, but I really love it. Way more than I thought I would!
Огромное спасибо
So happy you enjoyed it, Anastasia! (love your name, it’s my first daughter’s middle name 🙂 ) I feel nostalgic every time I eat this salad because we used to make it after foraging for mushrooms in Arkhangelsk region where I was born. Thank you so much for the feedback! Пожалуйста 🙂