Vinaigrette salad appeared after potatoes were brought to Europe from America. History claims that it was this vegetable that saved 18th century France from starvation. Previously, this root vegetable was considered poisonous and people were afraid to eat it, but later they figured it out and fell in love with everyone. The author of the famous and beloved salad remains unknown, but the mixture of the main vegetables growing in our country suggests that it was invented in Russia.
The name of the dish has French roots. The word "vinigar" translated means "acid, vinegar." The French who came to our country tried a sour vegetable salad and immediately came up with a name for it. Later the word acquired a local sound and became “vinaigrette”.
Over time, the initial version of the salad changed, and cooks came up with more and more new ingredients. In this article, we’ll look at what to put in a vinaigrette, how to boil and cut vegetables, and reveal the secrets of a beautiful salad color. We will also tell you how you can complement the dish, what interesting recipes were invented by experienced chefs.
Classic vinaigrette
We will consider in more detail later in the article what is put into the salad, which has been generally accepted in all recipes since Soviet times.
Prepare the following products:
- 3-4 medium sized potatoes.
- 1 carrot.
- 1 beet.
- 200 grams of sauerkraut (you can replace it with 2 pickled cucumbers).
- 1 onion.
- 50 grams of refined sunflower oil.
- A pinch of salt.
- Same amount of black pepper.
- Table vinegar 3% – 1 tbsp. l.
- Granulated sugar - half a teaspoon.
Vinaigrette without pickles
This vinaigrette recipe is different in that it does not contain all the products that add acidity to the salad. It really can be called dietary. The salad is not what we are used to seeing, but nevertheless deserves attention.
What to put in the vinaigrette:
- 3 potatoes;
- 2 carrots;
- 2 beets;
- 1 onion;
- 50 gr. oils;
- 1/3 tsp. salt.
How to make vinaigrette salad:
- Beets and other root vegetables need to be washed and boiled in separate saucepans filled with water, then cooled and peeled. Cut into cubes.
- Peel the onion and chop it.
- Combine the salad ingredients in a bowl, season with oil and mix.
How to choose products
You already know what goes into a classic vinaigrette; next we’ll look at how to choose the right ingredients to make the salad tasty.
Choose potatoes that are approximately the same size so that all vegetables are cooked at the same time. Make sure there are no green areas on the root vegetables; they contain solanine, which is hazardous to health. Take potatoes of a familiar variety; they should be tasty, but firm, and not fall apart when peeled and cut.
Carrots should be juicy and sweet. The variety "Karotel" is suitable. It is better to take the size medium. If you need a large portion of salad, it is better to boil several small root vegetables rather than one large one.
Also choose medium-sized beets. Tasty and sweet beets have a cylindrical shape. Since this vegetable takes a long time to cook, take care of preparing it in advance. The average cooking time for beets is 1.5 hours, depending on the size. The quality of the salad and its taste depend on this root vegetable, so be especially careful when choosing a product. The beets should be dark in color, uniform and firm to the touch. You can taste the raw vegetable for sweetness by cutting off a piece at the market.
Cabbage should not be too sour; it is better to use freshly pickled cabbage in salads. If you use pickled cucumbers, be sure to rinse them under running water to remove excess acid before slicing them into salad.
Onions are taken of sweet varieties, without excessive bitterness. It is better to take purple, but onion will also do. Housewives often add young green onions to the vinaigrette. It will add freshness and brightness to the salad.
It is best to use refined vegetable oil in vinaigrette, without a specific odor, so as not to drown out the aroma of the vegetables themselves. In addition to sunflower oil, you can use corn or olive oil.
Preparing the salad
Almost everything that is put into a vinaigrette according to the classic recipe must be boiled in advance. This applies to raw vegetables - carrots, potatoes and beets. They are thoroughly washed from the remaining soil using a brush, and then placed in a pan, filled with enough water and put on fire. After boiling, reduce the gas and cook until tender. For potatoes and carrots, it is enough to boil for 10-15 minutes, depending on the variety.
It is advisable to boil beets in a separate container, as they take longer to cook than other products. After cooking, the vegetables must cool, only then peel them and cut them into small cubes. Try to keep them the same size, then the salad will look aesthetically pleasing.
When the vegetables are chopped and poured into the salad bowl, it’s time for the rest of the products to be added to the vinaigrette according to the classic recipe. Peel the onions, wash and finely chop. You can replace it with fresh green onions.
Squeeze the sauerkraut in your palms over the sink to remove excess liquid. Then cut it into smaller segments, for example, into pieces measuring 3-4 cm. If you put cucumbers in the vinaigrette instead of cabbage, then rinse them under water before cutting to wash off excess acid. Only then do they cut them into cubes the same size as the rest of the vegetables. When using pickled vegetables, you do not need to add vinegar to the salad, since there is an excess of it in the cucumbers themselves.
When all the vinaigrette ingredients are chopped, season the salad with vegetable oil, add salt, black pepper, sugar and mix. When serving, you can place a sprig of parsley on top. This will decorate the dish and give it contrasting notes.
Vinaigrette without cucumbers recipe
It is easy and simple to achieve the desired result if you exclude cucumbers during the preparation of the “Vinaigrette”, but increase the amount of sauerkraut. Lightness and tenderness are preserved, however, as is the necessary acid.
What you need for the vinaigrette:
- 300 gr. sauerkraut;
- 1 beet;
- 1 carrot;
- 4 potatoes;
- 1 onion;
- 400 gr. peas;
- 2 tbsp. l. lemon juice;
- 70 gr. oils
Vinaigrette traditional recipe:
- Squeeze the cabbage and chop a little.
- It is advisable not to boil the beets, but still bake them. To do this, wash the fruit, wrap it in several layers of foil and bake in the oven.
- Remove the finished root vegetable from the foil and cool. Then peel and cut into small cubes.
- Wash the carrots and potatoes and boil them in separate saucepans, then cool, peel and chop.
- Peel the onion and finely chop it.
- Place the peas in a colander and wait until all the liquid has drained from it.
- Mix lemon juice with oil in a bowl - this mixture will be the dressing for the dish.
- Pour all the ingredients into a salad bowl, pour in the dressing and stir.
Option with legumes
You already know what to put in the vinaigrette according to the classic recipe described above, however, many housewives also add legumes to their favorite salad. It turns out delicious with beans and canned green peas.
You can also use canned beans, just choose the option in its own juice, without any additives. Many people prepare it themselves. To do this, it is recommended to rinse the beans in the evening and add cold water to cover two fingers above the level of the legumes. Overnight, the beans will swell well and cook faster. Readiness is checked by tasting (it should be soft, but not crumbly) or by visual inspection. The finished beans settle to the bottom of the pan and increase in size. The film should become completely transparent and soft.
If using the second product, open the can and pour all the liquid into the sink through a sieve. High-quality and young peas are placed in the vinaigrette. It is smaller and has a bright color, without yellowness.
A salad with legumes turns out to be richer and higher in calories. This way you can get enough food even for vegetarians or during fasting.
Salad with herring
Vinaigrette is a unique salad that you can add any food to. Remember everyone’s favorite herring under a fur coat, because all the ingredients are quite similar to the salad described. Why not add such delicious fish to the vinaigrette. We’ll consider what to put besides fish next. For 150 grams of herring fillet, take:
- carrots - 1-2 pieces (depending on size);
- potatoes - 3 pcs.;
- beets - 1 large or 2 small;
- pickles - 2 or 3 pcs.
Vegetables can be boiled or baked in the oven as usual. To do this, thoroughly wash all root vegetables under running water to remove any remaining soil, dry with a paper towel, and then wrap each vegetable separately in foil. Preheat the oven to 180° and bake until done, about 40 minutes. Then open the foil and leave the vegetables in the fresh air until they cool completely.
Then everything is prepared in the usual way: peel the skin and finely cut into cubes. Pickled cucumbers, previously peeled from seeds, are placed in the vinaigrette.
Clean the herring from the insides and the top film, wash it under water and use tweezers to remove all the bones so that they do not get caught in the salad. Then the fish is cut into small cubes, like other products.
How to decorate a vinaigrette without cucumbers
Thanks to the presence of beets and carrots, the vinaigrette looks bright on its own. However, if you want to design it in an original way, this can be done. We offer several ideas on how to decorate a vinaigrette without cucumbers.
- If you create a contrast of red vinaigrette with the green color of lettuce leaves, dill, parsley, the appetizer will look much more colorful and fresh. To do this, lettuce leaves can be laid on a dish before putting the vinaigrette on it. Another option is to place sprigs of parsley or dill around the perimeter of the salad bowl.
- Vegetable flowers are a wonderful decoration for any salad. To make a vinaigrette, it is better to use beets and carrots, since these products are included in its composition. By cutting them into thin slices, you can easily assemble buds from them. The leaves can be made from fresh herbs.
- Using a culinary hoop, you can place the salad on a dish, giving it the shape of a cake or a ring.
- The vinaigrette laid out in layers looks beautiful in a transparent salad bowl. To do this, all the ingredients are seasoned separately, and then collected directly in the vase.
The vinaigrette looks elegant and unusual in a wide glass or wine glass. This option can be used when serving food in portions.
Vinaigrette without cucumber turns out no less tasty than with this vegetable. Its taste is somewhat different from the traditional one, but many people like it. Having beautifully decorated this simple appetizer, you can serve it to the holiday table without hesitation.
We’ve run out of “our own” cucumbers, but there’s no desire to buy gherkins; it’s unclear what the manufacturer put in there. Please give me alternatives.
You can use fresh cabbage or cucumbers with vinegar. It will be difficult for someone who doesn’t know to distinguish the taste. For 1 kg of cabbage or cucumbers you need 2 tbsp. l. apple cider vinegar 9% Everything else, such as seasonings, is to taste. It is advisable that the vegetables be marinated in vinegar for at least a day (at least 2 hours).
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You can do without them altogether - add more onion and vinegar.
Sometimes in winter you simply cannot find pickled cucumbers for vinaigrette, and pickled cucumbers are not quite suitable. In this case, we use sauerkraut, which we make ourselves at home. In principle, it is very tasty and the cost is quite cheap. We tried replacing it with salted mushrooms, it was also very tasty, but mushrooms are very expensive, and you can’t always afford it for a large family. Once they even tried replacing it with salted green tomatoes, but it turned out to have a somewhat specific taste - the female half of the family liked it, but the male half categorically rejected it.
In principle, there are many options for replacing pickles in a vinaigrette. You can try different flavors, and you may end up not putting pickles in a vinaigrette at all. So, you can replace: 1 Fresh cucumbers 2 Pickled cucumbers 3 Sauerkraut or pickled cabbage 4 herring or even anchovy 5 pickled zucchini 6 salted mushrooms. Choose according to your taste. Many options give a special flavor to the vinaigrette.
Salad dressing
Mustard sauce gives the salad a special taste. It is made from the following products: take 2 tbsp for 2 chicken yolks. l. sugar, mustard, dry white wine, vinegar 3%; meat broth and refined vegetable oil, as well as a pinch of salt and black pepper.
Place all the ingredients of the mustard sauce in a separate pan and place on low heat. Stirring constantly, bring to thickening. However, be careful not to let the mixture boil. As soon as the first bubbles appear, immediately remove from heat and continue stirring for a while. Salt and pepper are added after turning off the heat.
If the vinaigrette is prepared during fasting, then meat broth and eggs are simply not added to the sauce.
Vinaigrette without cucumbers and cabbage
“Vinaigrette” is a vegetable salad and adding smoked fish to it is a non-standard solution. But it is precisely this original variation of a well-known dish that turns out to be especially tasty and aromatic.
What you need in a vinaigrette salad:
- 3 potatoes;
- 2 beets;
- 150 gr. smoked fish;
- 1 onion;
- 2 tbsp. l. lemon juice;
- 1 tbsp. l. mustard;
- 50 gr. oils
Vinaigrette with mushrooms
Sometimes pickled mushrooms, such as honey mushrooms, are used for this salad. What to put in the vinaigrette is described below:
It is best to buy canned honey mushrooms in stores to avoid getting wormy or poorly peeled mushrooms. For the salad, choose small honey mushrooms so that you don’t have to cut them into separate pieces.
Usually carrots are added to the vinaigrette, but they are not included in this recipe. Therefore, only beets and potatoes are boiled. After cooling, they are peeled and finely chopped. The onions are peeled, washed under waste water and also chopped. Remove the mushrooms from the jar with a spoon with holes so that the marinade drains and does not get into the salad. If the mushrooms are too soaked in vinegar, then you don’t need to add it to the salad. At the end, pour all the crushed products with oil, salt, pepper and mix.
Vinaigrette salad without cucumbers with honey mushrooms
In addition to vegetables, you can safely use fish and meat in the mushroom vinaigrette. But the salad turns out to be especially tasty and original with the addition of a component such as pickled honey mushrooms. Their delicate spicy aroma miraculously makes simple boiled vegetables incredibly delicious.
You will need:
- 2 beets;
- 1 carrot;
- 3 potatoes;
- 1 onion;
- 200 gr. pickled mushrooms;
- 40 gr. oils;
- 1 tbsp. l. wine vinegar.
How to make vinaigrette salad:
- In this case, it is better to use a microwave to cook beets. In the microwave, it will take significantly less time to prepare it than when cooking. And the taste of the root vegetable will be completely different. Wash the vegetable and pierce the peel in several places with a knife or fork. Only after such preparation can the fruit be placed in the microwave and baked for about fifteen minutes.
- The baked root vegetable needs a short period of time to cool, after which the beets are peeled and cut into small cubes.
- Carrots and potatoes are washed and boiled. Then cool, peel and cut to the size of beets.
- Remove the honey mushrooms from the jar and lightly squeeze out the excess marinade.
- Remove the peel from the onion and chop the fruit.
- Pour oil and vinegar into a jar, add salt to taste. After this, close the lid and shake vigorously. In this simple way we prepared an amazing, flavorful sauce.
- Place all products in one bowl, add sauce and mix.
Salad with pine nuts and fresh cucumber
The vinaigrette prepared according to this original recipe will surprise all guests with its unusual flavor combination. To prepare it you will need the following ingredients:
How to prepare a salad
First of all, you need to boil the vegetables. If desired, you can bake them in the oven. This will make them more aromatic, soaked not with water, but with their juice. Peel and wash the onion before slicing. Cut the olives into thin rings; they will look impressive in the finished salad. Instead of pickled cucumbers, use fresh cucumbers for this version of vinaigrette. You just need to wash it and cut it into the desired pieces. Some housewives take out the juicy part with the seeds, leaving only the dense pulp, but you don’t have to do this.
When everything is mixed in a salad bowl, add salt and pepper, season with oil. Pine nuts will add special flavor notes to the vinaigrette, but before you sprinkle them on top of the dish, you need to fry them in a frying pan. There is no need to pour oil, because the nuts already contain it. When drying, be sure to stir the nuts with a wooden spoon to prevent them from burning. If desired, you can add finely chopped dill or parsley to the salad.
Meat salad with smoked chicken breast
A vinaigrette with a meat component will be very satisfying and tasty. In our recipe, its function is performed by smoked chicken breast. In addition to the main vegetables - beets (2 pcs.), potatoes (2 pcs.) and carrots (1 pc.), you will need 1 onion, a full handful of sauerkraut, 1 chicken breast, 2 cranberries.
The dressing is made from vegetable oil with the addition of 1 tbsp. l. Dijon mustard and the same amount of natural honey of liquid consistency.
For this vinaigrette, it is recommended to bake vegetables in the oven. After cooling, they are peeled and finely cut into equal cubes. The chicken breast is sold ready-made, so all that remains is to cut it into small pieces or strips.
Squeeze the cabbage in your palms, discarding excess brine. It is advisable to cut it into large pieces to make it easier to pick up the salad with a fork.
Cranberries are used for dressing. You can take either fresh or frozen berries. Grind it in a blender and then mix it with the dressing ingredients. Don't forget to add salt and pepper to the salad if desired. You can leave a few cranberries to decorate the top of the finished dish.
