French salad

French salad is a classic that is easy to make, but that does not automatically mean it will taste very good. In our house we stick to four small tricks that turn this queen of salads into something really good: we cook the potatoes already diced, we cut the vegetables into really small cubes, we prefer fresh carrots, and we do not skimp on the quality of the mayonnaise.

Prep Time 45 mins

Cook Time 40 mins

Rest Time 120 mins

Total Time 3 hrs 25 mins

Cooking Method: boiled

Cuisine: Slovenian

Courses: Salads

Difficulty: Beginner

Servings: 10

Best Season: Suitable throughout the year

Dietary: vegetarian

Description

Classic French salad with potatoes, carrots, peas, gherkins and hard-boiled eggs. Four simple tricks, from finely diced vegetables to good-quality mayonnaise, make it really tasty.

Ingredients

6 pc egg (large)
350 g potatoes
430 g carrots (fresh)
120 g gherkins (pickled)
220 g peas (cooked)
1,5 tsp salt
1 pinch pepper
263 g mayonnaise (about 280 ml; good quality)

Method

1
Hard-boil the eggs and leave them to cool.
2
Meanwhile, prepare the potatoes, and here comes the first trick: peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes, then cook them in boiling salted water. That way you will have neat pieces of potato in the salad.
3
Next come the carrots. If you are short of time, you can use ready-diced cooked carrots, but for a really good salad use fresh ones: peel them and cut them into very small pieces. This is the second secret: the vegetables should be cut into really small cubes, about 4–5 mm. Cook the carrots in boiling salted water just like the potatoes and let them cool, then add them to the potatoes in a large bowl in which you can mix everything well.
4
Trim both ends off the gherkins and dice them finely as well. Tip the peas into a sieve, rinse them under running water and add them to the bowl.
5
Season the salad with salt and mix the ingredients with a spoon. Then add the hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped, and mix gently once more.
6
Finally, add the mayonnaise and mix again, gently. Good-quality ingredients, especially the mayonnaise, are the fourth trick for a good result. To finish, add a pinch of pepper.
7
Put the salad in the fridge overnight, or for at least a few hours, so that it chills well and the flavours come together. The next day, check whether it is salty enough and add more salt if needed.

Note

If you are short of time, you can use ready-diced cooked carrots, but the salad will be better with fresh ones.
Cut the vegetables into cubes of about 4–5 mm.
The salad is best after resting in the fridge overnight; check the seasoning only the next day.