Polish Herring Salad with Olives
Today I have another recipe for you to try with herring. This time with olives, mushrooms, herbs and olive oil. With the right ingredients and a quick chopping hand, this dish will be completed in no time.
In Polish homes, herring is a much-loved fish eaten as salads, in creamy sauces, in a jelly (no for me), or on its own with a piece of bread with butter. We have a lot of traditional dishes for holidays and festive season and also celebrations with herring, but we definitely enjoy it all year round. Herring, specially marinated is something you love straight away, or the taste will grow on you. My partner used to hate it, and now it’s the first thing he’s asking for Christmas or Easter.
There are few ways we marinate and preserve herring and it’s important to choose the right kind. For this recipe, you will need salted herring in oil not marinated (in Polish – Solone, nie marynowane). To get your hands on those I recommend visiting a Polish deli or in a shop with Eastern European produce.
My tip. Before you start cutting up the herring is to have a little taste. If it’s really too strong for your taste you can give each piece a gentle wash under running (cold) water. That should help with the excess saltiness of the fish.
I hope you will give this recipe a try, specially for Easter holidays, and love it as much as we do.
Herring Salad with Olives
Ingredients
- 440 g Salted Herring
- 300 g Mushrooms
- 1 Red Onion
- 185 g Black Olives pitted
- Dried Oregano
- Dried Basil
- Olive Oil
- Black Pepper
Instructions
- Wash mushrooms and cut into small cubes. Preheat a large frying pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Cook mushrooms until golden brown. Drain any water and set it aside.
- Chop onion into medium/small cubes and cook in the pan over medium heat with olive oil until translucent. Set aside.
- Clean herring under running water. Cut into medium cubes and set aside. Cut drained olives into quarters.
- In a large serving bowl begin layering all of the ingredients starting with mushrooms and following with onions, pieces of herring, olives, a tablespoon of oregano and basil – sprinkled all over each layer, pepper and a quick drizzle of olive oil (just a bit). Continue layering until all herring is finished.
- Store in the fridge tightly covered with foil and enjoy over the next 3 days!