Dutch salad of dreams

My aunt Ina always made this salad with tuna, rather than ham. Variations of this dish can be controversial, and I often add witlof and other accompaniments and occasionally omit the potato altogether. With few Dutch critics around to challenge this version, embrace the freedom to customise this dish to your liking - a typical Dutch trait! The key elements of this dish lie in the combination of pickles, apples and mayonnaise.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

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Ingredients

• 1 kg baby potatoes
• ½ cup frozen peas
• 1 cup whole egg mayonnaise
• 6 large, pickled gherkins, finely chopped, plus 2 tbsp pickling liquid
• 1 lemon, juiced and finely zested
• Salt and black pepper
• 2 sticks celery, finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely grated
• 1 large Granny Smith apple, roughly grated
• 200 g hot smoked salmon, flaked
• ¼ cup each roughly chopped dill leaves, parsley leaves and mint leaves, plus extra to serve

To serve

• 2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 4 witlof, separated into individual leaves
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
• 1 continental cucumber, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. Peel the potatoes, halving any large potatoes to ensure they are evenly sized for cooking. Place into a large saucepan, cover with salted water and bring to the boil. Cook until just tender and a sharp knife can easily be inserted in. Add the frozen peas to the pan with the potatoes and cook for 1-2 minutes or until just cooked and bright green. Drain and allow to cool to room temperature. Cut the cooled potatoes into 1 cm chunks.
   
2. To make the sauce, in a large bowl combine the mayonnaise, reserved pickle juice, lemon juice and zest and season generously with salt and pepper. To the bowl with the sauce, add the potatoes, peas, finely chopped gherkins, celery, onion, apple, salmon and herbs (reserve a little to garnish!) and mix gently to combine.
   
3. Transfer the Dutch salad of dreams to a serving plate, and sprinkle with the reserved herbs and the tomatoes. Serve with witlof leaves, boiled eggs and sliced cucumber.
   
   

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

Feeling Fresh

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

PG

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

PG