Each mistress on pre-holiday days tries to pick up special ideas for the menu in order to impress guests and show off her culinary abilities. For this reason, simple salads on the festive table are no longer suitable: you want something special, original and at the same time tasty.
A few ideas for the festive table
The traditional Olivier and the "fur coat" no longer impress anyone, so a few fresh ideas will help to significantly update the festive menu, as well as help with the design of ready-made dishes, which is also important. For example, a salad with mushrooms and eggs does not have to be decorated with whole mushrooms. Why not move away from tradition and decorate it with figures of animals, insects or birds made from small vegetables? Available and original.
Salad mixed in a uniform mass is already a relic of the past, which was replaced by puff salads laid out in the form of a barrel, as well as refined verrines in wide cocktail glasses. Decorating such portioned salads is a pleasure, in the photo - one of the good examples.
Portions of salads can also be served in fresh lettuce or Beijing cabbage, giving the holiday table a special chic, and surprise guests with convenience, because there is a salad wrapped in crispy greens, it is a pleasure.
Unusual salad with pickled mushrooms
The uniqueness of this dish is in one of the main ingredients: smoked mackerel gives it a rather piquant taste, but lovers of this fish really like it. Also present in this salad are mushrooms, cheese and eggs, so it is hardly suitable for losing weight ladies. The proportions for four servings of salad are as follows:
- 100 gamma pickled mushrooms;
- 1 onion;
- 1 small smoked mackerel (about 200 grams);
- 200 grams of hard cheese;
- 2 boiled "in jacket" potatoes;
- 2-3 boiled eggs;
- 120 grams of mayonnaise;
- several olives and olives to decorate the dish, as well as a couple of sprigs of parsley.
How to cook?
This type of salad with mushrooms and eggs belongs to the category of “puff”, but at the same time there is an interesting nuance: in the finished form, the dish appears in a pretty cheese shell, almost smooth in appearance.
This is done as follows: line a medium-sized bowl with an ideal spherical shape from the inside with cling film and put the walls with grated cheese (coarse grater), then put mushrooms sliced in slices on the bottom, a layer of finest chopped onion and cover it with a layer of mayonnaise. This is followed by a layer of boiled eggs, cut into thin strips, followed by a fish, which is cut into small cubes. The next layer is potato grated on a coarse grater, abundantly covered with mayonnaise. Then cover the top with a lid or foil and place the salad in the refrigerator for an hour or two so that it is slightly soaked in the sauce. Before serving the bowl with the salad, carefully turn it on a flat wide plate, remove the film and decorate, laying out the figures of acorns from halves of olives and olives.
Mushroom Meat Salad
Hearty meat salads are the favorite part of the dishes of men who like the feeling of long satiety, a lot of calories for good activity, so they always greet the salad with chicken, mushrooms and eggs with applause. The proposed option stands out against the general background with an unusual combination of garlic and walnuts, which gives the salad a very piquant taste.
- 300 grams of boiled chicken fillet.
- 120 grams of hard cheese.
- 200 grams of fresh champignons.
- Three boiled eggs.
- ½ tbsp walnuts.
- 1 large onion.
- 2 cloves of garlic.
- 120-150 grams of mayonnaise.
- 2 tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable oil.
- Salt to taste.
Product Preparation
As in the previous salad with mushrooms and eggs, in this version of the snack the ingredients are laid out in layers: apparently this is the fate of most holiday salads. The difference of this version is that the mushrooms must be fried in oil, for this they are cut into small slices, onions - thin half rings.
In a well-heated frying pan in oil, fry the onion until soft, put it in a bowl, and fry the mushrooms in the same oil to a deep golden hue, without bringing to a dark color. Mix mushrooms and onions. Cut the meat into small, neat cubes, do the same with the eggs, and grate the cheese on a grater with large holes.
How to lay a puff salad on a dish beautifully?
In order for the puff salad to look like a perfectly smooth cylinder on a festive dish, you can use a split mold for a small-diameter cake or use a plastic bottle (2 L), in which you need to cut the bottom and upper narrow part. Place it in the middle of the dish and spread layers of salad inside, ramming it tightly with a spoon:
- The first layer of meat (at the bottom). Cover it with mayonnaise.
- Mushrooms with onions. On top is also a mayonnaise net.
- Chopped blender nuts mixed with garlic and 2 tbsp. l mayonnaise.
- Cheese + mayonnaise.
- Chopped eggs.
Leave the salad with mushrooms and eggs for a couple of hours in the cold to soak, and carefully serve before serving and decorate the finished dish with fresh herbs.
Olivier with squid
This salad was immediately dubbed the “sea brother Olivier” because of its similar composition to the classic New Year table regulars. The unusual combination of squid salad with mushrooms and eggs, seasoned with traditional mayonnaise, gives a second wind to the annoying salad. What proportions should be maintained:
- four boiled eggs;
- one can of canned peas;
- three to four carcasses of squid, previously boiled whole (cook no more than 3-4 minutes);
- 130 grams of hard cheese;
- 150 grams of pickled mushrooms;
- one boiled beef tongue;
- three medium-sized boiled potatoes;
- 150 grams of mayonnaise.
This simple salad on the festive table is prepared in a matter of minutes: cut all the ingredients into small even cubes, grate the cheese and mix everything in one bowl with mayonnaise.
Ham Verrin Salad
This type of snack is ideal for serving at the buffet table: eating a salad from a glass is much more convenient than carrying a plate with you, being afraid to knock it over. All the main ingredients of the salad - ham, cheese, mushrooms, eggs and cucumber - are taken in equal proportions (about 200 grams) and cut into small cubes. Mayonnaise (4 tbsp. L.) Mixed with 0.5 tsp. Is used for dressing. finished mustard. The sequence of layers in a wide glass for desserts is as follows:
- ham;
- marinated mushrooms;
- cucumber;
- grated cheese;
- the eggs.
Each lettuce layer is covered with tea false sauce, the top layer does not need to be coated, it is better to decorate with slices of fresh cucumbers and small leaves of parsley.
Idea for Cooks: Fish Salad
If puff salads are already on the table, but still want something like that, then you can prepare a simple snack with the addition of tomatoes to a salad of mushrooms and eggs, and then lay out an animal figure on a dish from the resulting salad mass (for example, the symbol of next year Japanese style) or a beautiful flower, decorating with freshly sliced vegetables combined with parsley and dill. One of such universal salads is a dish based on such products:
- four boiled eggs, cut into small cubes + one for decoration;
- 500 grams of pickled mushrooms (or other mushrooms, cut into halves);
- two large fresh tomatoes in cubes + 3-4 cherry tomatoes for decoration;
- two hundred grams of ham and chicken fillet, cut into small pieces;
- one red onion, finely chopped;
- several leaves of green salad;
- 120 grams of mayonnaise mixed with 1 tbsp. l balsamic vinegar.
Cut all the ingredients, mix together with the sauce and let stand a little. Then spread the lettuce leaves on a beautiful dish, with a wide edge outwards, approximately in those places where the fish has tail and fins. On them lay an oval slide of salad, smoothing the top. Then cut the cherry tomatoes into circles, from which put the scales of the fish, and grated egg - its head. Eyes made from olives, you can add cilia for greater persuasiveness. If there is no cherry, then you can use boiled carrots of a bright color.
In fact, the imagination in the design of ready-made dishes is endless: it all depends on the skill of the culinary specialist and his creative inspiration, therefore, in any case, the festive table is to some extent a reflection of the hostess's inner world.