Not less than five thousand years have passed since the salad was called chopped and seasoned with vinegar spicy greens. Since ancient Rome, cold appetizers have changed a lot. Many people remember how very recently, less than half a century ago, Soviet housewives, except for vinaigrette and olivier, did not know almost any cold appetizer recipes. The situation has changed dramatically, and in modern cooking salad is one of the most beloved cold dishes, and leafy greens more often perform a decorative function in a dish, or serve to create a certain taste. Salad is sometimes difficult to name even a snack, given the complex and high-calorie composition. And to cold dishes, for example, warm salads are indirectly related.
How many actually there are salad recipes in the world, no one knows. It does not make sense to count their number, because the list is regularly and spontaneously updated. Along with the most famous recipes from famous chefs, salads are invented by housewives. No wonder they say that a woman can come up with a salad out of nothing. This "nothing" can mean anything.
Any products combining to taste can be turned into a salad by adding a suitable dressing to them. For example, if you add one or two components to a salad with prunes, mushrooms and chicken, picking them up with mushrooms or chicken meat, then the home culinary encyclopedia will be replenished with a new recipe that the author will share with friends or colleagues at work. Those, in turn, will supplement or change the recipe so that another version of the cold dish appears - and so on ad infinitum. Each housewife has her own special salad recipe, which can be seen right now.
Salad with prunes, chicken and mushrooms - the basic technological principles
The technology for the preparation of all salads, despite the variety of their types, has no fundamental differences, and consists in the preliminary preparation of the ingredients, their grinding, mixing and preparing dressing.
Refueling matters. The invention of mayonnaise in the eighteenth century significantly influenced the expansion of the assortment of salads and their taste. Many housewives prefer to use this versatile sauce not only for cooking salads, but also for baking dishes in the oven. Mayonnaise is really tasty on its own and in a salad it combines the ingredients so much that even the most unusual combinations of products become harmonious thanks to the mayonnaise. But, nevertheless, do not abuse this sauce: not only because nutritionists consider it a high-calorie product - mayonnaise in a large amount muffles the taste of the dish.
An alternative to mayonnaise is oil-vinegar sauces with spices and herbs, vegetable oils, sour cream or sour cream based sauces. For the preparation of salad dressings, other dairy products are also used: cream, yogurt, buttermilk. In sauces for salads add wine, juice of lemons or other fruits with a sour taste, tomato paste. To add pungency and special taste mustard is used, a mixture of peppers. Which dressing to use in a particular salad depends largely on the cook's intuition, his knowledge of the properties of the products and culinary experience.
The main rule of salad dressing: its taste should not prevail in the salad, but only combine its components and emphasize their taste. You also need to remember that after adding any dressing, the shelf life of the salad is reduced to two hours, especially at room temperature. Mayonnaise and sauces based on lactic acid products, in combination with meat, fish and other salad ingredients containing animal protein - a very favorable environment for pathogenic microorganisms.
Pay attention to the cutting methods. This is also important. It is traditionally believed that all components of the salad should be cut into the same size, taking into account the appearance of the dish. But you also need to pay attention to the consistency of the components. So, for example, it is better to cut thinner boiled potatoes in combination with juicy vegetables, and so on.
A very important detail in the preparation of salads - sharp knives. Without this trifle, a beautiful and tasty salad will not work. A dull knife will not only slow down the cooking process - it will knead the ingredients, worsening the appearance of the dish, with such tools you will not get beautiful and even shapes when slicing.
Now about the preparation of salad compositions on the example of a salad with prunes, chicken and mushrooms. Note that the proposed option is already a completely self-sufficient dish, which lacks only refueling. But, if we go further, then sour and smoked olives can be added, for example, cheese with a delicate creamy taste - especially since the cheese does not dissonant with chicken meat and mushrooms. Any ingredients are suitable for the neutral taste of chicken meat, but a dense and dry chicken texture can be supplemented with juicy fruits or vegetables. If you add pickled mushrooms to the salad containing vinegar and salt, then for contrast add sweet glazed carrots or beets, figs, raisins. In a word, the proposed composition can be developed in any direction.
Bold fantasies in cooking are welcome, because this is how new and better dishes appear.
1. Salad with prunes, chicken and mushrooms "Klyukovka"
Ingredients:
Boiled chicken breast
Marinated mushrooms
Prunes
Quail eggs
Fresh cucumbers
Cranberries (or Lingonberries)
Mayonnaise
Cooking:
Take the ingredients for the salad in the same amount, by weight, except for cranberries and prunes. They are added to the salad to decorate and give a piquant taste, not more than 10% of the total mass. Mayonnaise is added to taste.
Slice:
Champignons - with plates;
Cucumbers and breast - in bars (0.5x0.5x2.5 cm);
Boiled eggs - slices.
Wash large pitted prunes, dry and cut into thin strips. Gently combine the ingredients, mix with a fork. Put in a salad bowl, shape with mayonnaise and fresh green leaves.
2. Salad with prunes, chicken and mushrooms in a Mediterranean style
Products:
Smoked Chicken Fillet 450 g
Prunes 100 g
Chanterelles marinated 350 g
Avocado 3 pcs.
Lettuce (yellow) 150 g
Tomatoes 200 g
Cucumber, fresh 250 g
Pine nuts 70 g
Chives, dill, arugula leaves - for decoration
Lemon juice, salt, olive oil, pepper - for dressing
Cooking:
Prepare the avocado: wash and cut in half to remove the bones. Remove the pulp and fruits with a spoon and chop it into large cubes. Also chop large chicken, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. Cut the mushrooms in half, and chop the washed prunes with a knife. Mix all the ingredients in a salad bowl, put in halves of the avocado. Serve on portioned plates, sprinkled with nuts, watering the dressing cooked to your taste and decorating with fresh leaves of greenery.
3. Salad with prunes, chicken and mushrooms in orange "baskets"
Products:
Mayonnaise (30%) 120 g
Ground black pepper
Garlic 20 g
Ketchup "Chile" 80 g
Oranges (large) 7 pcs.
Prunes 300 g
Grilled chicken (fillet without skin) 1.2 kg
Pickled honey mushrooms 450 g
Parsley 100 g
Cooking:
Wash large oranges, gently cut the skin in half and remove the pulp from them. Peel the membranes and chop finely. To oranges, add small cubes of chicken pulp, mushrooms and prunes.
Mix mayonnaise with ground black pepper, and chopped garlic, season the salad. Scalp the oranges with boiling water, then dry with a napkin and fill with salad.
From the peel of one orange, cut thin strips and place them across each “basket”, thus making pens. To decorate the salad, put small mushrooms on top, and on plates around the "baskets" - leaves or twigs of fresh parsley.
4. Puff salad with prunes, chicken and mushrooms
Product Set:
Walnut (fried kernels) 100 g
5 eggs
Smoked chicken fillet 400 g
5 eggs
Prunes 200 g
Boiled beets, glazed 150 g
Cheese, hard 250 g
Mayonnaise
Mushrooms (pickled mushrooms) 300 g
Pickled onions, 150 g
Lemon juice 50 ml
Honey 100 g
Vegetable oil 50 ml
Water 150 ml
Cooking:
Cut the boiled beets into cubes, put in a solution of water and honey. In hot oil, passer beets until transparent.
Dice the onion, dipped in lemon juice, mixed with water, in equal parts. Soak for at least half an hour, then drain the marinade.
Grind kernels of nuts, washed prunes, mushrooms and chicken. Hard cheese, boiled and peeled eggs, grate.
Place all the components of the dish in a round form, greasing the layers with mayonnaise. After a couple of hours, turn the form on the dish and steal the surface of the puff salad cake with the ingredients that make up it.
5. Salad with prunes, chicken and mushrooms
Products:
Glazed Carrot 200 g
Honey 150 g
Butter 100 g
Water
Grapes, white nutmeg 200 g
Prunes 300 g
Champignons 250 g
Red orange 350 - 400 g
Boiled Chicken Breast 450 g
Dressing - Soy Sauce
Cooking:
Peel and chop the carrots in circles or large cubes. Melt the butter and combine it with honey and water. Put carrots in this mixture and cook until transparent. You can add spicy spices if desired. Cut all other ingredients into pieces of arbitrary shape, but the same size.
Season the salad with soy sauce.
6. Cocktail salad with prunes, chicken and mushrooms
Products for cooking:
Boiled chicken fillet 500 g
Redheads 350 g
Kishmish 350 g
Sun-dried prunes 250 g
Frozen Cranberries 120 g
Sesame, fried 90 g
Dressing: honey, vinegar, wine or balsamic, pepper, peanut butter
Operating procedure:
Cut the meat, mushrooms and prunes. Combine all components in a large container, pour over the prepared dressing and mix. Serve the salad in high-legged cups, sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Salad with prunes, chicken and mushrooms - tricks and tips
The quantitative ratio of the ingredients is, of course, individual, completely dependent on the taste of the cook. But at the same time, do not forget that to the ingredients with a low moisture content you need to add the same amount of juicy ingredients or increase the volume of dressing in order to balance the dish.
If the salad includes meat products, then using sour cream dressing is not recommended.
So that the beets do not stain other components of the salad, "seal" it with vegetable oil. Glazing will also help preserve the natural color of vinaigrettes and salads, in which beets are added. In addition, the sweet taste of glazed pieces of beets or carrots will stand out against the acidic and salty components of the salad.
Salad is a perishable dish that is recommended to be prepared just before use. He is the most favorite component of the festive feast, and the housewives cook several salads at once. Because of this, the volume of work becomes very large, and the main requirement - the freshness of the dish - becomes difficult to fulfill. Try making preparations on the eve of the celebration: you can cook and cut meat, vegetables (not juicy), eggs, cheese in advance - all products that will not go bad until the next day, when stored in the refrigerator, in tightly closed containers. Then, two hours before dinner, they will only need to be connected together, in different salads and in the required quantities. In this case, the preparation of several salads will not take much time, and they will be fresh, since the salad quickly deteriorates when its components are mixed and watered with dressing.
It is important for every woman to keep a little vigor and strength for a smile, despite the festive chores. Therefore, plan the holiday menu in advance, distribute all operations by time so that the fuss does not spoil the mood.
