Country salad or Summer salad

How to prepare a free-range salad . When the hottest dates of the year approach, this type of salad begins to be seen in all the terraces of Madrid.

A potato based salad recipe accompanied by plenty of rich ingredients: peas, egg, red pepper, green pepper, and onion. Although we can find variations with olives, tuna or bonito in crumbs, corn, crab sticks, prawns or prawns, piquillo peppers, pickles, etc.

Dressed with mustard vinaigrettes, balsamic vinegar, sherry or even Andalusian-style. They are very similar to the AlInAs potatoes or potatoes seasoned Cadiz area with vinaigrette with olive oil and chopped parsley.

Also like they put it in many bars, salad- style with a mountain of mayonnaise . No matter how they present them to us, well accompanied with a very fresh beer, they are delicious. Even the version we have on the blog, this free -range rice salad , which you will also like.

The free range salad is a very simple recipe, one of those of cooking and mixing. Although it is an easy recipe, it has the odd little secret to make it delicious. But the most important thing is that the ingredients are of the highest quality since, since they do not have mayonnaise to disguise them. You will notice if the peas are canned or not and if the potato is of quality.

A perfect dish to start in the kitchen. You can present it as a first to get into action in a meal with friends, easy, simple, cheap and with a multitude of variations. I hope you like it.

Before starting. Potatoes and eggs

1. We will start by cooking the potatoes, peel them and pour into a saucepan with the boiling water.
2. Salt and let cook for about 20 minutes over medium-high heat. The time will depend on the type of potato and size.
3. The best way to see if it is well cooked is to prick with a fork almost at the end of the cooking process, so we can increase or decrease the time depending on the type of potato you are going to use. We remove the potatoes and let them cool.
4. We peel the peas, better that they are fresh, so our salad will have much more flavor and we also take advantage of the fact that we are in season.
5. If you prepare this salad in winter you will be worth some quality preserved peas, although it will not be the same.
6. We put a casserole with water and heat until steam comes out. We place the peas in the steam source and leave them 5-8 minutes (depending on the type of pea) at full power.
7. If you do not have this type of utensil at home you can cook it in a normal way for 5 minutes, remove from the water and reserve.
8. Meanwhile we are going to cook the eggs  in another fire. We cover them with cold water and cook 10-12 minutes from the boil.
9. We should not cook them any longer since a dark greenish halo forms around the yolk that is unpleasant to the eye.
10. Nor should we let the eggs rest in the water in which we have cooked them.
11. We must immediately pour cold water so that they temper and do not continue cooking. With these indications you have to be perfect.
12. We cut an onion, a red pepper, two large tomatoes and a green pepper into small cubes.

Final preparation of the salad

1. We put all the ingredients in a large container, because that’s where we are going to mix our free-range salad.
2. We add a good jet of extra virgin olive oil and mix to bring flavors together.
3. Add the peas and the potatoes previously cut into large cubes.
4. I like the salad with tuna from the north or with tuna belly.  But if you do not want it to be very expensive, you have much cheaper tuna crumbs in olive oil.
5. The northern tuna pot that I have used is 260 gr. drained, and I add it all because I love it.
6. It is always better to crush it by hand so as not to find very large pieces. Add to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
7. We are not going to throw away the oil that the canned tuna brings, we are going to use it together with a little more virgin olive oil to prepare our vinaigrette.
8. I like the flavor it brings to the salad because it enhances the taste of bonito. I love finding the strong and contrasted flavor of the oil I use in my kitchen, but to your liking.

Preparation of the vinaigrette and final presentation of the salad

The  vinaigrette  is one of the most international and most versatile sauces in the world. This flavorful sauce has been used for many years to dress and flavor salads.

The proportions will depend on the taste of each one, the type of oil, vinegar and ingredients used can change the intensity of the flavor.

1. In a glass add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. We add the olive oil that we have previously mixed, the sherry vinegar and the raw egg yolk.
2. Stir vigorously until everything is tied. If you don’t dare with the raw egg yolk (it will give the vinaigrette a lot of creaminess), we add a cooked egg yolk.
3. It has to be crumbled and we stir it gently until it is well mixed. We reserve.
4. Once the vinaigrette is made, we must add it to the end of everything. Season to taste and with your hands we combine all the ingredients and the vinaigrette.
5. Remember that the free-range salad must go to the fridge already seasoned and mixed. If we kept it without dressing, the ingredients would be parched.
6. To serve we cut the hard-boiled eggs to taste, in quarters or in sheets. We put our salad in a bowl and decorate with the egg.

You can see all the photos of the step by step recipe of the free-range salad with potatoes   in this album.

Tips for a free-range sausage salad

• As best is the salad is with a touch of fridge and consumed the same day, prepare it in the morning to eat it at noon or at night.
• If we leave our salad for several days in the fridge we will make the potato go rancid. If you prepare it the day before, you should take it out about an hour before serving it so that the potato gets a little warm.
• Do not store it in a metal bowl or cover it with aluminum foil, they can alter the taste of the potato.
• The recipe contains a lot of crude oil and too strong an oil you may not like. In that case use a mild olive oil.
• The best potatoes for this recipe are new potatoes. They should not be too big, better medium, and if possible they should all be of a similar size so that they cook evenly and all have the same texture.
• We leave it for a little while in the fridge and we already have our perfect free-range salad to eat, one of the most famous dishes of the summer. Do not stop preparing it.