Name: Variat (home recipe)
Prep time: 35 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: Serves 2
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: 3 floury potatoes, boiled and diced; 2 carrots, boiled and diced; 150g tinned tuna in olive oil, drained; 100g cooked peas; 3 eggs, hard boiled; 200g thick mayonnaise; 8 pork and beef meatballs, cooked in tomato sauce; 6 ham croquettes; Green olives; Salt

History

The variat is the island's answer to the tapas crawl, invented by bars that wanted to sell down what the kitchen had already cooked. One plate carries four or five portions, and the composition changes daily depending on what is in the case. Ensaladilla rusa, the potato and tuna salad, is the constant. Bodega La Rambla on Via Roma has been building them since 1940 and is the reference version in Palma, which is why locals still fill it at 13:30.

Common allergens: Egg, Fish, Gluten

Make it at home

Yield Serves 2Hands-on 35 minTotal 1 hrDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

3 floury potatoes, boiled and diced
2 carrots, boiled and diced
150g tinned tuna in olive oil, drained
100g cooked peas
3 eggs, hard boiled
200g thick mayonnaise
8 pork and beef meatballs, cooked in tomato sauce
6 ham croquettes
Green olives
Salt

Method

Mix the diced potato, carrot, peas, tuna and two chopped hard-boiled eggs with the mayonnaise and salt.
Chill the ensaladilla for at least 30 minutes so it firms up.
Reheat the meatballs in their tomato sauce and fry the croquettes until crisp.
Spoon the ensaladilla on to one side of a large plate and top with the remaining sliced egg.
Arrange the meatballs and croquettes alongside, add olives, and serve at once.

Tip from the editors. The ensaladilla must be cold and the fried elements hot. That contrast is the point of the plate.