Salads for a festive table - general principles and methods of cooking
What is the difference between a regular and festive table? Of course, an abundance of salads and design. Habitual salads can tune in with new shades of taste, if approached to them with love and fantasy. Even an old acquaintance “Olivier” can open up with a new, unexpected side, external design “tricks” and a couple of “real” ingredients can change it beyond recognition.
Festive salad must be bright. Everyone knows how to make a Christmas tree on a beloved New Year's salad, but how to make any salad truly festive?
Learn to combine as many ingredients of different colors as possible - green, red, yellow or orange - and you will be able to produce works worthy of the culinary Tretyakov Gallery. The carving of vegetables and fruits, wonderful roses from tough eggs and carrots, gorgeous daisies and real mushroom fields - the fantasy can be just limitless. Beets, carrots, olives, tomatoes, eggs, peppers, cucumbers and necessarily greens - everything that has color and is well cut is used. Remember only one thing - it is necessary to decorate salads before serving, so that they look fresh and appetizing. In addition, different salads should have a different coloring.
Salads at the festive table - preparation of products
Decorating a festive salad is a very exciting process. Showing a maximum of imagination and work, you can feel like a famous designer, and, undoubtedly, guests will appreciate your efforts, and you yourself will feel a tremendous creative upsurge and wonderful mood.
Here is a short list of product colors to help the culinary designer:
Red give tomatoes, sweet peppers, pomegranate, cranberries.
Pink or raspberry - beet or cranberry juice. Orange - carrots, sweet peppers, tomatoes.
White - rice, egg whites, cottage cheese, sour cream, whipped cream.
Lilac or blue - grated egg white, rice, dyed red cabbage juice.
Burgundy - beets.
Yellow - egg yolks, corn, lemon.
Purple - red cabbage or egg whites dyed with its juice.
Salads for the festive table - the best recipes
Recipe 1: Chicken and Mushroom Puffed Salad Cake
This layered salad cake is so called because outwardly it can not be distinguished from a real birthday cake. Simple ingredients, laid out in layers and decorated in the form of a cake, and taste are completely different - festive, supported by the admiration of the guests and the pride of the hostess for their creation.
Ingredients: chicken breast (1 pc), fresh mushrooms (mushrooms, 300 gr), onions (3 pcs), carrots (4 pcs), potatoes (3 pcs), eggs (for decoration, 3 pieces), mayonnaise.
Method of preparation
Fry the finely chopped mushrooms and fry the onions until golden brown. Fried meat is also cut into cubes. Boil the potatoes and chop finely. We collect our cake. The first layer of chicken, then mushrooms, mixed with half onion, mayonnaise. Next is the boiled potatoes, carrots. We cover everything with mayonnaise and proceed to the decoration of the salad. First, cut out the carrot rosettes, rub the remaining parts on a coarse grater. Boiled eggs are also formed in the form of flowers, the rest of the protein is three on a coarse grater.
One half of lettuce is covered with snow-white protein, the second one with bright orange carrots. Top asymmetrically lay out the flowers, and, of course, the leaves. For this we use greens - parsley sprigs. This is just a miracle, a win-win for any holiday.
Recipe 2: Pineapple
Pineapple in our country is exotic. You will rarely see it on the Russian table, but today is a holiday, and here we present a surprise to the guests - a real puff of pineapple, sweet and sour, hearty, a wonderful festive dish. Ingredients: Potatoes (3-4 pieces), ham (200 g), canned pineapples (small jar), eggs (5 pieces), onion, sour apple, lemon juice, salt, pepper, mayonnaise, bunch of green onions, walnuts.
Method of preparation
Prepare ingredients: cut pineapples into slices, ham strips, onions, eggs. Apple and potato grated. Potatoes, onions, ham, apples, pineapple, eggs are laid out on an oval dish. Layers are coated with mayonnaise and sprinkled with pepper. Pineapple tail formed from a bunch of green onions, walnuts lay out the "peel" of pineapple. I assure you, you have not tried such an appetizing and unusual pineapple!
Recipe 3: Cheese basket with squid
Seafood in our country is so exotic in itself that, for example, squids just overcooked with onions are worthy of attention. However, we can’t allow something banal on the holiday table. See how an ordinary slice of cheese can turn the idea of ordinary squid.
Ingredients: squid (400 gr), cucumbers (3 pcs), eggs (2 pcs), cheese (300 gr), mayonnaise.
Method of preparation.
Baskets are made in a very simple way and are well cooled in the refrigerator.
Bottom of a flat plate grease with butter and lay out a cheese circle (10-12 cm in diameter). Place the plate for 20 seconds in the microwave, then gently remove the warmed and slightly melted cheese and form a basket.
Salad: The cleaned carcass of squid is poured with boiling water, after 5 minutes it is slightly cooled and cut into half rings. Cucumbers cut into strips. Finely chop eggs. Mix everything in a salad bowl and add some salt and mayonnaise. Before serving, we put a leaf of green lettuce in a basket, lettuce itself, decorate with greens, olives, lemon-leaf flowers and cucumber petals not only baskets, but also the dish on which they are exhibited. To eat together with a wonderful cheese “tara”.
Recipe 4: Greek salad with “Football” cheese
Each holiday table must have a light salad made from natural ingredients, just to cause appetite and facilitate the digestion of complex dishes. Mediterranean vegetable salad fits perfectly. The “soccer ball” in the continuation of the football championship will undoubtedly be appreciated by many men - especially if you are celebrating the male anniversary of the inveterate football fan or other men's holidays. We stock up on cheese and olives - decoration of our ball.
Ingredients:
Cucumbers (3 pcs), tomatoes (5 pcs), green onions, sweet peppers (2 pcs), pitted olives, sheep cheese (300 grams), vegetable oil and salt.
Method of preparation
It's easy to make a classic Greek salad - just cut the vegetables into cubes, tear the greens with your hands, season with vegetable oil and mix. And now let's form our ball directly - three snow-white cheese on a fine grater and fall asleep salad. From above we lay out polyhedrons from the olives cut in half. A real soccer ball! If we have not reached the final, then the final of our holiday will undoubtedly be in our favor!
Salads on the festive table - useful tips from experienced chefs.
Salads are served on a festive table in various ways - on a platter or in small portioned salad bowls. The original way - on slices of bread or in the form of "sausages" of pita. They can be used as a filling in tomatoes or other vegetables, making beautiful baskets with edges “teeth”. Plastic and porcelain plates do not absorb juice. Use stainless steel knives for cutting salads, so that vitamin C is not destroyed by contact with iron.
