Merry Christmas to you dear reader, to all amazing foodbloggers and friends, to all lovely people who is celebrating this bright and warm holiday!
I’m sharing with you this wintery salad, that’s very popular and loved among Russians. It’s a vegetable salad, that usually served cold as a starter (before the main course) or lots of people would like to have a huge bowl of this salad any time during the day.
Similar salads were known already in 19th century, which were made from boiled vegetables and dressed with oil and vinegar. The name ‘vinegret’ came from French word “vinaigre” – vinegar. The legend says that during the reign of Russian tsar Alexander I, French chef Antoine Careme was working for the Russian court and once he saw how Russian cooks prepared a vegetable salad and dressed it with something similar to vinegar. He wanted to know what was the dressing and asked ‘Vinaigre?’. As for cooks, they thought the chef named the salad itself.. Since then the salad became known as ‘vinegret’.
The salad is very simple itself and easy to prepare, it consists of few main and irreplaceable ingredients: beetroot, potato and carrot. Plus some points below and you can make it too:
-you can either boil beets and potatoes or bake it (in their skins);
-green canned peas are added most of the time, but you can skip it;
-not the least ingredient – pickled cucumbers or cabbage, you can use one of it or both;
-chopped fresh onion can be omit or replace with spring onions;
-some chopped fresh dill make the salad only better;
-dress it simply with aromatic sunflower oil (or olive oil), some vinegar is optional.
All vegetables should be cut into small cubes (0.5-1cm). And the quantity is next: 1 part beets+1 part potatoes+1/2 part carrot+1 part pickled cucumbers or cabbage (I prefer and recommend 2 parts)+1/2 part peas+1/3 part onions.
Moreover, today is a big day for Fiesta Friday party! It’s #100! I absolutely love it and enjoy it every time, so many recipes and lovely bloggers, fun and chat! Let’s party!!!
Vinegret
*Cucumbers shouldn’t be too sour or too sweet.
**Try to buy Russian pickled cabbage (it should be crunchy!).
***I used small can 200g, drained weight 140g.
Ingredients
1 medium beetroot (300g)
300g potatoes
1 medium carrot
6 small or 2 medium pickled cucumbers*
200g Russian pickled cabbage**
1 small can of green peas***
small bunch of fresh dill, chopped
extra virgin olive oil, for dressing
salt and black pepper, to taste
Preparation method
- In a large pan, add cold water, put beetroot, potatoes and carrot (don’t peel them). Bring water to boil, reduce heat to low-medium, cover with a lid and simmer for 1 hour or until veggies are soft and ready. Drain, leave to cool completely. Peel veggies and cut into small cubes.
- Cut cucumbers into small cubes.
- In a large serving bowl, mix all vegetables with peas and dilll. Season with salt and pepper, dress with oil, stir to combine and serve.
Serve vinegret with sliced rye bread. Enjoy!
milkandbun 