Babos Receptai (Part 9)

My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, never transcribed the recipe for her signature dish, "Babos Vinegretas," into her collection. She had memorized the ingredients, so it's likely she didn't think it necessary to write down the recipe. In the early 1970s, however, she jotted the recipe down for my friend Kris, and Kris later have me a copy of Baba's instructions.

Here is that recipe:

Here's how I wrote up the recipe:

Babos Vinegretas

Salad:

3 to 4 "boiling" potatoes (500 grams), unpeeled

3 hard-boiled eggs

7.5 ounces frozen peas and carrots, thawed and drained on layers of paper towel

3 green onions (50 grams), sliced thin (or chives: Baba wrote, "arba 'chives'.")

2 fresh, pickled cucumbers* (not sour: Baba wrote, "ne labai rukšcius"), chopped very fine

1 to 3 tablespoons fresh dill weed, to taste

crabmeat**

Dressing:

1/2 to 3/4 cup mayonnaise

2 Tbsp. sour cream

1 teaspoon (no more) Dijon mustard (a little: Baba wrote, "truputi")

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sugar, to taste

salt and freshly-ground pepper

Cook the potatoes in boiling water with 1 teaspoon salt until done (about 20 minutes). Drain potatoes thoroughly and allow them to cool. When potatoes have cooled, peel them and dice neatly into small (1/3-inch), uniform cubes. Place the diced potatoes in a large bowl.

Dice the hard-boiled eggs and add to the bowl. Stir in the drained peas and carrots, green onions, cucumbers,* and dill weed. Mix well.

Prepare the dressing by mixing together 1/2 cup of the mayonnaise, sour cream, and mustard very thoroughly. Stir in the lemon juice, sugar, salt, and pepper and adjust, to taste. Stir the dressing into vegetables to coat evenly. If mixture seems dry, then add up to the additional 1/4 cup mayonnaise. (Salad may be prepared in advance. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least four hours until serving time.)

*To make "Fresh Pickled Cucumbers:" Stir 3 tablespoons white vinegar and 1 teaspoons kosher salt in a small bowl until salt dissolves. Place one pound English hothouse cucumber, thinly sliced and 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill in a 1-gallon resealable plastic bag. Add vinegar mixture; seal bag. Turn several times to coat. Refrigerate overnight, turning bag occasionally.

**Tatjana added crabmeat or shrimp to the salad on special occasions.