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Jamie Oliver's Russian Salad with Golden Paprika Chicken is actually the sixth recipe I've made from Everyday Super Food. His Super Squash Lasagne was delicious, healthy, satisfying, and something I'm wishing it was cool enough to make for myself again. On the other hand, the Earl Grey banana bread, Breakfast Popovers, and Indian Roasted Cauliflower were all disasters of varying degrees of edible-ness. His Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Broccolini, Chile, and Lemon was okay but not worth repeating. So why am I even talking about Everyday Super Food anymore? I've absolutely broken my "3 strikes" rule for cookbooks. Well, it's like this...
I'm willing to take the blame on the banana bread and the popovers, because I didn't follow his ingredient list strictly to the letter. I had mostly what I needed and I thought I could adapt along for the rest, which is something I like to do when cooking whatever's in my fridge, but makes it difficult to find fault in the recipe when the product fails. One issue I have with this cookbook is the open-ended, imprecise directions. It's a very "hey man, let's just hang and cook some things casually" writing style, which I suppose is part of Jamie's persona. However, the lack of detail/room for interpretation are not ideal for cooking success. Nevertheless, Everyday Super Food was a Christmas present that I begged for, so it was never actually going anywhere. Plus, discovering gems like the Super Squash Lasagne (and, spoiler alert, this Russian Salad with Golden Paprika Chicken) is worth these flops in between.
So, with that incredibly long-winded introduction....I really enjoyed this salad, a lot more than expected based on previous experience and the ingredients themselves. I'm not the hugest fan of dill or capers, but I still really liked this salad. I've made it a couple of times now and I think it's a fantastic weeknight dinner, but it would also make a pretty salad for a dinner party.
I know the instructions look a little long, but making Jamie's Russian salad with golden paprika chicken quickly just requires you to read the directions all the way through (as you always do, right?). Making the salad keeps you busy in the kitchen from start to finish about 40 minutes later, yet it's a nicely choreographed 40 minutes. You get your beets cooking at a boil, then you leave them in peace while you get the potatoes cooking. While the potatoes cook, you prep your asparagus, which you add in towards the end of the potato cooking time (along with the peas). While those veggies cool, you get your paprika'd chicken cooking, and as it's cooking, you make the dressing. You're constantly doing some prep for this salad, which means you're present in the kitchen to ensure nothing is overcooked and you aren't sitting on the couch with a pre-dinner snack. It's kind of a deviously healthy recipe that way.
My biggest advice with this recipe is, when then instructions say chop the mix-ins (cornichons, capers, dill, possibly anchovies) very fine - chop the dill very fine. I didn't bother chopping my capers or cornichons, because I think them fine as they are. Dill on the other hand is a non-delicious choking hazard if chopped too haphazardly. I bought a little squeeze tube of fresh dill from Gourmet Garden at the supermarket, which I know is somewhat contrary to the "fresh" idea, but for this salad I thought it was perfect. The top picture above is my first salad dressing, in which I was lazy and didn't chop the dill fine enough. Don't follow my example in that regard - big chunks of dill are a bad idea.
A few more minor suggestions, starting with: be sure to gently fold in your beets. It's clear from my photos that I didn't bother, and my entire salad is purple for that reason. It's not that it makes a difference in the taste, but it's not as nice a presentation. It's also evident from the first photo of the dressing that I used stone-ground mustard instead of Dijon - the flavor was a little sweeter, but still good. If you don't have white wine vinegar, place with an equal amount of red wine or apple cider vinegar. Feel free to take some license with the vegetables as well as their preparation - I completely omitted the potato and used more beets. You could roast the beets instead of boiling them, or you could spiralize the beets and potatoes, then cut the resulting noodles into manageable lengths and cook briefly.
Original source: Everyday Super Food
Russian Salad, Golden Paprika Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb (4-5 small) mixed-color raw baby beets*
- 14 oz ( 1 big or 6-7 baby) potatoes
- 10 oz (1 bunch) asparagus
- 3 ½ oz (⅔ cup) freshly podded or frozen peas
- 2 6- oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts**
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- generous pinch smoked paprika
- 3 tablespoons (60 g) plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons (40 g) cottage cheese***
- 1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- ¼ of a bunch (¼ oz) fresh dill or 1 ½ tablespoons pureed dill paste
- 1 teaspoon baby capers
- 2 cornichons
- optional: 2 anchovy fillets packed in oil
Instructions
- Remove the root and stem from the beets, then place the beets in a medium pot and add enough water to cover by an inch. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, then simmer until tender (about 20-30 minutes).
- Meanwhile, cut your potato(es) into ¾-inch dice (or leave whole if using baby potatoes). Place in a separate pan, add enough water to cover by an inch. Salt the water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and continue cooking until tender (about 8-10 minutes).
- Trim the woody ends from the asparagus, then slice stalks on a bias into 1-inch long pieces (leave the tips intact).
- For the final 2 minutes of potato cooking time, add the asparagus and peas. Drain everything in a colander and set aside to steam dry.
- Next, place a frying pan over medium heat. Rub the chicken with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a generous pinch of smoked paprika, and a little salt and pepper. Add chicken to the frying pan and cook for 10 minutes, turning after 5 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Remove chicken onto a clean plate to cool.
- While the chicken is cooking, mix the yogurt, cottage cheese, Dijon, vinegar, and a pinch of black pepper together in a large serving bowl. Chop the cornichons, capers, dill, and anchovies (if using) very fine, then add to the bowl and mix to combine.
- Stir in the potatoes, asparagus, and peas. Taste and add additional seasoning if desired.
- Peel the beets, dice into ¾-inch pieces, then gently fold into the salad. Overmixing will dye your entire salad purple.
- Slice the chicken and pile on top of the salad, dust with extra smoked paprika if desired.
- Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator up to 2-3 days.
Notes
**Alternatively use 3-4 small boneless thighs and sear about 3 minutes one side, 4 minutes the other.
***Instead of cottage cheese, you could use all (5 tablespoons) of Greek yogurt. The final dressing may need a little more salt, and maybe isn't quite as complex, but it's still very good.
Nutrition
