Festive Romanian boeuf salad recipe – a Christmas table favorite

Every member of Mariana’s family gets involved with creating this hearty potato, carrot, pea and pickled cucumber salad (beef optional) with homemade mayonnaise

Hailing from Romania, Mariana is a seasoned professional banker and a former president of The Network, one of Luxembourg’s oldest professional women’s associations.

“Although known as Boeuf salad – its name is borrowed from the French word for beef – the dish appears on many Romanian tables in many variations,” Mariana explained.

Some families prepare it with beef, others with chicken or vegetarian versions.

“For decades, its preparation has been a small family ritual,” Mariana said. “Children peeled and chopped vegetables, adults handled the mixing and the homemade mayonnaise was usually entrusted to the most experienced cook in the house.”

Decorating the platter is also a shared moment, Mariana said © Photo credit: Mariana Florea

“For decades, its preparation has been a small family ritual,” Mariana said. “Children peeled and chopped vegetables, adults handled the mixing and the homemade mayonnaise was usually entrusted to the most experienced cook in the house.”

Decorating the platter is also a shared moment, “improvised and playful, with everyone contributing ideas about arranging carrots, pickles or patterns made from the mayonnaise,” she said.

“It is one of the activities that brings several generations into the kitchen at the same time, and signals the approach of the holidays.”

Ingredients (8-10 servings)

4-5 potatoes

3 carrots

200g peas

4 pickled cucumbers (cornichons or gherkins) well drained

Optional roasted or pickled red pepper

Optional 300g of cooked beef or chicken

Mayonnaise:

Seasoning: salt, pepper, 2–3 teaspoons of pickle brine

Decoration: a small amount of mayonnaise and a few slices of vegetables

Preparation

Boil the potatoes, carrots and meat. Allow everything to cool.

Dice the vegetables, pickles and meat into small, even pieces. Mix with the peas.

For the mayonnaise, mash the boiled yolk and combine with the raw yolks and mustard, and add the oil gradually while stirring continuously, then season with salt.

Combine most of the mayonnaise with the chopped ingredients and add salt and pepper, and a little pickle brine, to your taste.

Spread the salad on a platter and cover with the remaining mayonnaise and decorate as you like, perhaps with a Christmas pattern.

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.