The lack of food in Soviet times forced the housewives to be resourceful in order to impress the guests. Named after the popular spring flower, the Mimosa salad today is a festive dish at any time of the year.
While the mimosa flower was a traditional symbol of spring and a gift for March 8, an appetizer named after him is a common dish in the winter months, especially for the New Year, because the recipe does not require fresh vegetables.
Mimosa salad first appeared in the Soviet Union in the early 1970s and quickly became very popular. The reason is simple - most of the ingredients for him were cheap and affordable. Today, almost every cafe and restaurant in Russia offers this salad. "Mimosa" is far from the last place in modern cooking.
Canned sea fish was not common in the 1970s, but the average Soviet family could get it as part of a special “basket” (“order”) - it was a set of goods that citizens could only get at their place of work, especially on public holidays.
By the 1980s, canned fish became more common and cheaper, and Mimosa salad with cheese became a popular holiday dish. To prepare this dish, you need to place the ingredients on top of each other to avoid mixing them. Mimosa looks most beautiful when served in transparent glass salad bowls where each layer is visible.
How to cook this dish?
The classic "Mimosa" with cheese requires the following components:
- 200 grams of canned fish, often mackerel or saury;
- 3 potatoes;
- 2 carrots;
- 5 eggs;
- 1 large onion;
- 100 grams of cheese;
- 300 grams of mayonnaise;
- salt.
How to make a salad according to the classic recipe?
The classic Mimosa recipe with cheese is as follows. Boil potatoes and carrots for 20 minutes, and eggs for 10 minutes. Peel the finished potatoes, then rub it on a coarse grater, add salt to taste. Place the vegetable on the bottom of the lettuce in the lower layer, then cover with mayonnaise.
Drain the liquid from a can of canned food, then crush the fish with a fork, if necessary, remove large bones. Put the fish on the potatoes, cover with mayonnaise.
Peel the eggs by separating the yolks from the proteins. Crush the squirrels with a fork, add a pinch of salt to them, put on the fish as the next layer, which should also be covered with mayonnaise.
Cut the onion, treat it with boiling water for 5 minutes. After draining the water, add a pinch of salt and put the onions on the eggs, cover with mayonnaise. Peel the carrots, grate on a medium grater and put on the onion, adding salt and covering with mayonnaise, as in the previous steps.
Grate the cheese, place it on the onion, add a little salt. This layer does not require active coating, unlike the previous ones. Just squeeze a few drops of mayonnaise from the bag or apply it with a fine mesh.
Pound the yolks through a sieve, add a pinch of salt and use them for the topmost layer of salad. You can also decorate the dish with dill.
Low Calorie Salad Option
Mimosa layered fish salad with cheese can be prepared in another, more modern version. The most important thing is that the dish must be cooked several hours before serving to allow the layers to soak from each other. Initially, this salad was always prepared with mayonnaise, but you can always replace it with light dressing and make it more tender and light. For this version of the dish you need:
- 1 can of tuna in its own juice (or any other low-fat fish);
- 2 potatoes;
- 2 carrots;
- 4 hard boiled eggs;
- 1 small onion (finely chopped);
- 2 pickled cucumbers;
- 1 cup mix of mayonnaise with Greek yogurt;
- 1/2 cup low-fat cheese.
How to make an easy Mimosa recipe with cheese?
Do not peel potatoes and carrots. Just rinse them and place them in a pot of boiling water, adjust the heat and leave to cook until the vegetables are easily pierced with a knife. Then just take them out of the water and leave to cool, then peel them off.
Drain the liquid from the tuna, crush the fish with a fork in mashed potatoes. Stir with chopped onions. Put this mixture in the salad bowl in the first layer, spread a couple of tablespoons of dressing on top.
Grate potatoes, cucumbers, carrots and cheese, arrange separately. Divide the eggs into yolks and squirrels, also wipe them separately.
Then lay the lettuce on top of the fish. They are arranged as follows:
- potatoes;
- gas station;
- cucumbers
- gas station
- carrot;
- gas station;
- cheese;
- egg whites;
- egg yolks.
Leave the Mimosa salad in the refrigerator for the night or at least for a few hours.
Salmon Option
Mimosa salad with cheese can also be made from salmon. The classic list of components for it was formed during the years of food shortages, but today you can buy any products.
For this version you will need:
- 3 medium potatoes;
- 4-5 carrots;
- salt;
- 6-8 hard boiled eggs;
- 250 grams of slightly salted salmon;
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese;
- 1 3 / 4-2 cups of mayonnaise.
Cooking Mimosa with mozzarella and salmon
Put the carrots and potatoes in the pan, pour water so that it barely covers the vegetables. Season with salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 25-35 minutes until vegetables are tender. To make sure they are ready, pierce them with a fork. Do not digest potatoes and carrots, otherwise you will have mashed potatoes and a slime-like carrot mass.
Drain the vegetables and cool them. When they get cool enough to handle, clean them. This is very easy to do with a sharp knife or a special cleaning device.
Cook hard-boiled eggs. Peel and cut them in half to separate the whites from the yolks.
Finely chop the salmon with a sharp knife. Pour 1/4 cup mayonnaise into it and mix. Now you can collect "Mimosa" with cheese for serving.
Spread the fish in the first layer. Using a box grater, finely grate the potatoes on top of the salmon. If desired, you can use large grater holes. Place the mayonnaise in a plastic bag and cut a tiny hole in one of the corners. Pour about 1/4 cup over the potatoes in a thin layer. This application of dressing is preferable to simply laying out in the middle and spreading with a spoon. This helps keep the texture of the salad tender and light, rather than dense and compact.
Spread finely grated cheese on top of the potatoes in a thin layer. Grate the carrots on the largest grater. Cover with the same amount of mayonnaise. Grind the egg whites for the last layer. Lay the mayonnaise on them with a spoon and distribute. Mash the yolks with a fork in a small bowl or rub them through a fine sieve. Sprinkle on top of the salad in a continuous layer.
Option with parmesan and pink salmon
As you can see, there are many variations of the recipe for Mimosa salad with cheese. You can use parmesan and pink salmon in its own juice for its preparation. It is best to prepare this salad in advance of serving to allow all layers to soak. For this variation you need:
- 1 large or 2 medium potatoes;
- 1 large carrot;
- 3 large eggs or 4 medium;
- 250 grams of canned pink salmon (you can take coho salmon);
- 1 small onion, finely chopped;
- 150-200 grams of mayonnaise;
- 100 grams of parmesan cheese;
- 50 grams of butter, frostbitten;
- fresh dill, optional;
- salt.
Cooking "Mimosa" with pink salmon
The Mimosa recipe with canned goods and cheese looks like this. Wash potatoes and carrots, do not peel. Put and cook in a large pot of water until cooked. Cool, peel off the skin, then rub on a fine or medium grater in separate bowls. Set aside.
Boil eggs hard, cool and separate the whites and yolks. Finely chop or rub separately through a sieve.
Put chopped onions in a small bowl, fill with hot water and leave for 10 minutes. Drain the water. Grate Parmesan on a fine grater.
Grate frozen oil on a coarse grater, leave chilled.
Drain the fish and remember it with a fork in mashed potatoes.
Prepare a deep salad bowl or serving plate. Spread the grated potatoes evenly at the bottom. Lubricate with mayonnaise. Apply a layer of fish, then add chopped onion and spread a little more mayonnaise on top. Put the squirrels in the next layer and grease with dressing again, sprinkle with parmesan.
Then put the grated carrots, put butter and egg yolks on top. You can sprinkle the salad with chopped dill if you wish.
How to serve the dish on the table?
You can collect Mimosa salad with cheese in different ways. So, you can begin to lay out the layers in a glass salad bowl so that all of them are visible. You can also take a flat plate and lay out the ingredients using a spring-shaped ring. You can create individual servings of salad using collapsible baking dishes.