Many modern housewives do not have enough time to spend in the kitchen a few hours a day, preparing various dishes for the household and guests. However, they also want to treat friends and loved ones with delicious and satisfying dishes. Salads with ham and cheese will feed the family and set the festive table in a short time without spending a lot of energy. Most of the products included in these snacks do not require heat treatment, the rest are prepared quickly and easily. Even an inexperienced cook can easily cut such a salad.
Cooking Features
Salads with ham and cheese are puff and regular, the cooking process will depend on the chosen recipe, but there are several points that will remain relevant, no matter what snack option you choose.
- The products that make up the salad must be fresh and of high quality. This is especially true of the main ingredients. If you are tempted to save money, you can bring home a loose and watery ham, at worst, even “stuffed”, moldy cheese made using a large amount of vegetable ingredients. Of these products, a delicious salad can not be prepared.
- If the ham that you got out of the package turned out to be wet, blot it with a napkin and then chop it with a knife.
- If the appetizer contains eggs or other foods that have to be fried or boiled, they must be cooled to room temperature before being combined with other ingredients. The combination of products with different temperatures, leads to the fact that the dish quickly deteriorates.
- Try not to digest eggs if they are included in the recipe. With prolonged cooking, more than 10 minutes, the egg yolks are covered with a bluish bloom, lose aesthetics. This is especially bad when this ingredient is used to decorate a snack.
- Follow the recommendations for grinding food. If the products are cut differently than indicated in the recipe, making pieces of a different shape and size, this will affect not only the appearance of the snack, but also its taste.
Ham and cheese go well with ingredients such as cucumbers (fresh and salted), Korean carrots, bell peppers, and tomatoes. These ingredients are part of the ham and cheese salads most often, but there are more original recipes for snacks. There are so many of them that every gourmet will find an option that suits his taste.
Salad with cheese and ham with mustard dressing
Composition:
- leaf lettuce - 100 g;
- quail eggs - 5 pcs .;
- cherry tomatoes - 0, 2 kg;
- Bulgarian pepper - 0, 2 kg;
- hard cheese - 100 g;
- ham - 150 g;
- Dijon mustard - 5 ml;
- wine or apple vinegar (6%) - 10 ml;
- olive oil - 80 ml.
Method of preparation:
- Cleaned, hard-boiled quail eggs, cut into 4 parts.
- Cut the same slices of tomatoes.
- Pepper wash, free from seeds, at the same time removing the stem. Cut into 4 pieces lengthwise, cut into quarters of 3-4 mm thick rings.
- Cut ham into small cubes.
- Wash lettuce leaves, let them dry, tear them with your hands.
- Put the prepared ingredients in a deep bowl.
- Combine mustard, vinegar and olive oil in a separate container, whisk with a whisk to get a uniform consistency.
- Pour the dressing into the bowl with the products, mix gently.
- Put the appetizer in a salad bowl or on a beautiful dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
This recipe will appeal to lovers of Mediterranean cuisine, fresh vegetables, as well as people who prefer to include healthy food in the menu. Quail eggs in this recipe can be replaced with two chicken eggs, cherry tomatoes - with ordinary tomatoes. These products are cut into cubes.
Salad with ham, cheese, fresh cucumbers and canned corn
Composition:
- ham - 0, 2 kg;
- semi-hard cheese - 150 g;
- chicken egg - 3 pcs .;
- canned corn - 130 g;
- onions - 75 g;
- green onions - 50 g;
- fresh cucumbers - 0, 3 kg;
- sour cream or mayonnaise, salt, pepper - to taste.
Method of preparation:
- Chop grated cheese, turning it into large chips.
- Cut the ham into thin strips, put it with the cheese in a bowl.
- Cut onions into small pieces, pour boiling water over it, squeeze it, send it to the main ingredients.
- Boil the eggs, cool them under running cold water, free them from the shell, cut them into thin slices. Put in a bowl with other products.
- Open the tin can, fold the corn into a colander, let it dry. Pour into a bowl.
- Salt and pepper the salad, season with sour cream or mayonnaise.
- Put the appetizer in a salad bowl or distribute in portioned vases, sprinkle with finely chopped green onions.
The taste of this snack is extraordinarily tender and fresh, it is pleasant to eat. Salad is nourishing, but does not leave a feeling of heaviness in the stomach.
Italian salad with ham, cheese and noodles
Composition:
- ham - 100 g;
- hard cheese - 100 g;
- Bulgarian pepper - 0, 25 kg;
- pitted olives - 100 g;
- noodles - 100 g;
- mayonnaise or Caesar salad dressing - to taste;
- salt, pepper - to taste.
Method of preparation:
- Ham cut into strips.
- Turn the cheese into a chip using a grater.
- Pepper seeds, cut into strips.
- Cut the olives in half.
- Boil noodles until cooked, focusing on the instructions on the package.
- Combine the ingredients in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, season with sauce.
This salad can be served warm or cold. It will appeal to admirers of Italian cuisine. Such an appetizer may well replace a full meal.
Layered salad with cheese, ham and avocado
Composition:
- hard or semi-hard cheese - 100 g;
- ham - 0, 2 kg;
- chicken fillet - 0, 2 kg;
- avocados - 0, 25 kg;
- chicken egg - 2 pcs .;
- green peas (canned) - 100 g;
- canned corn - 100 g;
- Bulgarian pepper - 0, 25 kg;
- fresh cucumber - 0, 2 kg;
- vegetable oil - 40 ml;
- salt, pepper - to taste;
- mayonnaise or sour cream - how many will go.
Method of preparation:
- Cut chicken breast fillets into slices. Sprinkle with pepper and salt, mix.
- Heat the oil and fry the chicken pieces in it, put them on a napkin to remove excess fat.
- Put the chicken on a dish, giving it a circle shape. Pour over the sauce, covering the chicken fillet with a fine mesh.
- Cool-boiled eggs cool, peel, divide into yolks and whites.
- Rub the squirrels, mix them with a small amount of sauce, distribute on chicken.
- Chop up the cheese on a coarse grater, put on the squirrels, grease with sauce.
- Avocado cut into small cubes, after separating the flesh from the skin and removing the stone. Mix with green peas, put on the cheese. Pour sour cream or mayonnaise.
- Cut the pepper from seeds into small straws, mix with corn and sauce, spread as follows.
- Slice ham into thin strips, place on top, pour dressing.
- Cut cucumbers into small cubes or straws, mix with a small amount of sour cream or mayonnaise, put on the ham.
- Sprinkle grated yolks, grated, and garnish with fresh greens.
The appetizer made according to this recipe has a complex but balanced taste. If you want to surprise the guests, you can make such a festive table. It looks appetizing and bright.
How to decorate a ham and cheese salad
Sometimes the design principles of cheese and ham snacks are laid out in its recipe, but there are cases when there are no such instructions in it. Then you will need ideas on how to decorate a salad with ham and cheese, so as not to spend a lot of energy on it and get a dish worthy of a festive table.
- You can make flowers from ham and cheese. To make roses from them, they need to be cut into thin semicircles. One slice rolls up the tube, the others gather around it so that they resemble rose petals. Callas made from cheese or ham even easier. To do this, thin slices of the product are rolled into a bag, a long strip of red or yellow pepper, cucumber or carrot is inserted into the center of them.
- If the salad includes eggs or tomatoes, the flowers can be made from them by cutting them in a zigzag pattern. Chamomile can also be made from eggs. From cucumber flowers are made about the same principle as that of ham.
- Cherry tomatoes and olives, which are part of the salad, can also be used for decoration. Halves of these products can be decomposed around the perimeter of the salad bowl or plate, put them on top of the salad, alternating. Cutting the olives into small pieces, one can put an inscription or a figure symbolizing the holiday, on the occasion of which the table is laid.
Cheese and ham salads look good in creamer and cocktail glasses. This property can be used if it is advisable to serve a snack in portions.
Salads with ham and cheese are prepared quickly and easily, are nourishing and tasty. The dish is suitable for a family dinner and a festive feast. A variety of recipes allows you to choose the appropriate option for snacks, taking into account the taste of guests and the availability of certain products in the house.
