Spring salad - general principles of cooking
It is difficult to find someone who would not have tried, or at least had not heard of a fresh, light, vegetable spring salad. Despite the name, the dish can be cooked at any time of the year. However, the most delicious, it turns out it is during the harvest season, when fresh vegetables can be harvested directly from the garden. The main ingredients of spring salad are cucumbers and tomatoes, which can also be supplemented with radish, onions, potatoes or bell peppers. The more greens are used, the more aromatic and tasty the dish becomes. In the spring salad you can find not only fresh parsley or dill, but also green onions, sorrel, lettuce, cilantro. Sometimes mint or lemon balm, basil, celery leaves and even nettles are cut into the dish.
Thanks to such an abundance of fresh and healthy ingredients, spring salad can rightly be considered a storehouse of vitamins and microelements. Everyone knows that vegetables are an excellent source of fiber, so this dish is perfectly absorbed by the body and normalizes the gastrointestinal tract. Spring salad is an excellent option for adding to the diet menu, you can also arrange fasting days on it.
The calorie content of spring salad depends on the type of dressing used. A dish filled with mayonnaise, sour cream or their mixture will become richer and more nutritious. You can also take low-fat foods, plain yogurt, lemon juice, or any vegetable oil. The taste of spring salad will enrich the sauces and homemade dressings. For these purposes, as a rule, they take vegetable oil as a basis and mix it with various spices, seasonings, garlic, table vinegar, mustard, etc.
If you want to cook a more nutritious version of spring salad, you can add eggs, nuts, grated cheese, olives or olives. The finished dish is often sprinkled with sesame seeds. The basic principle of cooking food is cutting vegetables in various ways (dice, rings, slices, straws, etc.), mixing all the ingredients and dressing with butter or sauce. Spring salad will be a great side dish to main dishes, it can also be used independently, for example, as a light dinner.
Spring salad - preparing food and dishes
For the preparation of spring salad you will need a deep salad bowl, a sharp knife, a cutting board, a pan (if you need to boil potatoes or eggs), a grater. Serve the dish on ordinary flat plates or in small bowls.
All vegetables and herbs, before cutting into a salad, must be properly washed and wiped. Next, cut them in accordance with the recipe for salad "Spring". We must not forget to remove the place where the fruit stem was from vegetables. Some recipes should be removed from the vegetable (for example, from cucumbers) peel. If any products cannot be used raw, they are pre-boiled (potatoes or eggs).
Spring salad recipes:
Recipe 1: Spring Salad
The classic recipe for the well-known vegetable salad. The dish remains relevant for many years, prepare it very quickly and easily.
Ingredients Required:
- Ripe fresh tomatoes - 2 pcs .;
- Fresh cucumbers - 2-3 pcs .;
- White onions (or red lettuce) - 1 pc .;
- Feathers of green onions;
- Parsley and dill;
- Salt - to taste;
- Vegetable oil for refilling - 2 tbsp. l
Preparation Method:
Wash vegetables and herbs thoroughly, let them dry. Cut the tomatoes with a sharp knife (so that the juice does not flow out) in small slices. Cucumbers cut into thin circles. Onions (white or red) cut into thin rings or half rings. It can be poured with boiling water beforehand, so that extra bitterness will come off Chop the onion in small rings, finely chop the parsley or dill. Put all the ingredients in a salad bowl, add salt, season with vegetable oil (sunflower or olive) and mix.
Recipe 2: Spring salad with eggs
More hearty and tender version of spring salad. The dish can be served as a side dish or consumed independently.
Ingredients Required:
- Ripe tomatoes - 2 pcs .;
- Cucumbers - 2 pcs .;
- Parsley, dill;
- Green onions;
- Several lettuce leaves;
- 2 chicken eggs;
- Salt, black pepper - to taste;
- Sour cream and mayonnaise - 1 tbsp. l
Preparation Method: Wash vegetables and herbs thoroughly. Cut tomatoes into small pieces, cucumbers into thin semicircles. Green onions cut into rings, lettuce leaves - thin straws. Chop the dill and parsley greens. Boil eggs hard-boiled, cool, chop not too small. Vegetables and all greens put in a salad bowl or bowl, salt to taste, lightly pepper and season with mayonnaise and sour cream.
Recipe 3: Spring salad with new potatoes
The recipe for this light, incredibly delicious salad should be noted by every hostess. The dish can be prepared every day, also served to the festive table.
Ingredients Required:
- Young potatoes - 300 g;
- 1 fresh cucumber;
- Radishes - 4 pcs .;
- Bulgarian pepper - 2 pcs .;
- Salad leaves - 80 g;
- Green onions - 50 g;
- Large tomato - 1 pc .;
- Sour cream for dressing - 100 g;
- Salt - to taste.
Preparation Method:
Boil the potatoes in a uniform, let them cool, peel and cut into small slices. All vegetables and herbs should be washed. From the bell pepper to cut the core with the seeds, cut the vegetable into straws. Cut the tomato, cucumber and radish into slices. Lettuce finely chopped. Put all products in a deep salad bowl, salt, add sour cream and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle ready spring salad on top with green onion rings.
Recipe 4: Spring salad with garlic and nuts
This delicious savory salad can be cooked in a few minutes and served as an appetizer for a feast, when there is not much time left before the guests arrive. The dish is prepared from all the available products that are in almost every home.
Ingredients Required:
- Large Bulgarian pepper - 2 pcs .;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 2 fresh cucumbers;
- Fresh parsley;
- Salt, pepper - to taste;
- Peeled walnuts - 150 g;
- Sour cream - 150 g;
- Lemon juice - 1 tsp.
Preparation Method:
Wash vegetables and herbs, remove seeds from pepper and chop the vegetable into straw. Cucumbers cut into thin strips. Parsley and garlic finely chopped. Prepare the dressing: finely chop the nuts, mix them with sour cream, add lemon juice, salt and pepper. Put vegetables in a salad bowl, mix with dressing, sprinkle ready salad with parsley.
Recipe 5: Spring salad with cheese
This fragrant and tasty dish is a worthy option to offer to guests. The main highlight of the salad is an unusual dressing, which makes a real culinary art work out of ordinary vegetable dishes.
Ingredients Required:
- Yellow and red Bulgarian pepper - 1 pc .;
- Onions - 2 pcs .;
- Tomatoes - 2 pcs .;
- 200 g of cheese;
- 4 eggs;
- Mayonnaise - 250 g;
- 1 apple;
- Half a teaspoon of mustard;
- Sugar - to taste.
Preparation Method:
Wash and dry vegetables thoroughly. Onions cut into rings. Pepper to remove the core of the seeds, cut it into thin half rings. Boil eggs, cool, chop proteins separately. Cut tomatoes into thin semi-circles. Grate the grated cheese. Separately prepare the dressing for dressing: peel the apple, cut the core and grate it. Mash yolks, mix with mayonnaise, apple, mustard and sugar. Mix as it should be whipped until a homogeneous consistency. Put tomatoes, onions, peppers, cheese and squirrels into a salad bowl, season everything with cooked sauce.
Spring salad - secrets and tips from the best chefs
If vegetables and greens are already sliced and laid out in a salad bowl, and it is still early to serve the dish, it is better to add salt and dressing. Cucumbers and tomatoes, when mixed with salt, tend to give plenty of juice - the salad can become very watery and not so tasty. Therefore, it is best to season the spring salad just before serving. It is also not recommended to keep spring salad for a long time. The dish is designed to eat it immediately. There is another secret: if cucumbers are already sliced in a salad, but they turned out to be bitter, you can add a little lemon juice (it “interrupts” bitterness).
