Boeuf Salad (Romanian Potato Salad)

I grew up in Romania, a beautiful Eastern European country.  One of the traditional dishes is this amazing potato salad.  It might not look like much, but it is absolutely delicious!  Traditionally, you boil the potatoes in beef broth (from boiling a large beef bone with some meat on it), then also add the meat to the salad.  However, that's more time consuming and more and more people have been dropping that step.  The name still stands though, since the French word boeuf (which has been borrowed in Romanian for this salad) means beef. You can still add meat, if you so desire, but this side dish version has become a lot more popular.  However you choose to have it, it's definitely worth the time it takes to make.  There simply isn't another potato salad like this one!  And definitely  don't count the calories.  :)  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

-1 bag potatoes (5 lbs)

-2-3 carrots (normal size, not baby carrots)

-1 (15 oz) can sweet peas, drained

-6-8 baby dill kosher pickles, plus 3-4 more to decorate the salad

-salt 

-1 Tbs yellow mustard

-mayonnaise

-black olives to decorate

-optional: sweet pickled peppers to decorate

-optional: cooked turkey or chicken breast (cut in small pieces) 

Directions:

Boil all the potatoes with the peel on.  They are done when you can stick a fork through them.  Drain 
the water immediately and let them cool.  If you leave them in water they become mushy and gross.  Peel them after they are cool.  Dice them in tiny pieces mand place them in a large bowl.

Peel the carrots and boil them until fork tender.  Drain and let them cool.  Dice them in tiny pieces (like the potatoes).  Add them to potatoes.
Add the drained peas to the potato mixture.

Dice the pickles.  Drain them on paper towels- squeeze until there's no more juice coming out of them.  Then, add them to the mix.

If you decide to use meat, add it now. 
Mix everything well.  Add salt (to taste) and mix.  Add yellow mustard and 1 cup of mayo.  Mix well and taste.  Add more salt or mayo if necessary.

When it tastes good enough to you, pour the mixture on a large platter and shape it as you want.
Place 5-6 Tbs mayo on top and spread all over in a thin layer.  You can add more if you want to. 
Cut 3-4 pickles, the olives and sweet peppers in any shapes you want and decorate the way you want to.

Enjoy!