Seafood is considered a delicacy. They have a unique taste, are low-calorie foods, contain a lot of protein and valuable micro-and macronutrients, quickly prepared. Many of them are affordable and can serve as a basis for various everyday and festive meals. If you want to surprise family members and guests with an exquisite, appetizing and healthy food, but you cannot spend a lot of time and money on its preparation, you should pay attention to mussels salads. These snacks are quick and easy to prepare, they are relatively inexpensive, but they are popular with almost everyone and are worthy of decorating a festive table.
Cooking Features
The principles of cooking salads with mussels are the same as the rules for cooking other appetizers in this category. At the forefront is the quality of the original ingredients. Methods of heat treatment of products used, the nature of their cutting, the choice of dressings and seasonings have a certain value. Knowing the right way to choose and cook mussels, with which products you can combine them, you will get the expected result and earn a lot of compliments from guests and household members.
- Pickled, smoked or frozen mussels can be used to make salads. It is not advisable to buy fresh unpeeled mussels for salad, since it is necessary to process 1 kg of mussels in shells to get 100 g of purified product. If you do decide to use unpeeled mussels, immediately throw away those with open shells. Before cooking the mussels in the shells, they are thoroughly washed and repeatedly rinsed with running water, then immersed in boiling water and boiled for 10 minutes, taking mollusks with drop-down shells. Instances in which the shells did not open during the specified time are thrown away.
- Peeled mussels are boiled, baked or fried for 3-5 minutes. If the cooking time is exceeded, the clams may become hard.
- When buying, you should give preference to large mussels of a light color - they are the most delicious and fresh. If you see that the clams have a yellow-green tint, it is advisable to refrain from buying.
- You do not need to thaw mussels before cooking.
- If you do not like the pronounced smell of fish, sprinkle mussels with lemon juice and they will have a more pleasant aroma.
- It is necessary to fill salads with mussels immediately before serving. These snacks are not subject to storage. Mussels prepared for salad can be kept in the main chamber of the refrigerator for no more than a day.
Mussels go well with other seafood, vegetables, rice, pasta. Eggs, cheese, and avocado are often added to salads with them. You can fill these snacks with sauces based on vegetable oil and lemon juice, mayonnaise.
Classic recipe for salad with mussels
Composition:
- peeled frozen mussels - 0, 3 kg;
- onions - 100 g;
- Bulgarian pepper - 0, 2 kg;
- tomatoes - 0, 2 kg;
- chicken egg - 2 pcs .;
- leaf lettuce - 0, 2 kg;
- fresh basil - 20 g;
- garlic - 2 cloves;
- dry white wine - 50 ml;
- lime or lemon - 1 pc .;
- soy sauce, olive oil, sesame seeds - to taste.
Method of preparation:
- Free the onions from the husk, cut into small cubes.
- Finely chop the garlic.
- Heat oil in a pan, put onion and garlic in it. Fry them for a few minutes to get a golden hue.
- Put the mussels in the pan. Fry them with onions and garlic for 1-2 minutes.
- Pour wine, reduce heat, cover the mussels with a lid and stew for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Tomatoes, pepper and lettuce wash, let them dry.
- Salad tear hands, put in a bowl.
- Cut the tomatoes into medium-sized cubes or slices, shift to lettuce leaves.
- Pepper free from seeds, cut into half rings or quarters of rings, send to the salad and tomatoes.
- Eggs boil hard boiled. Place a pot of eggs under a stream of cold water to cool faster.
- Free the eggs from the shell. Crush them like tomatoes, put in a bowl with the rest of the products.
- Mix lime juice, soy sauce and olive oil separately. Add this mixture to the products in the bowl, mix.
- Put a mixture of lettuce leaves, vegetables and eggs on the dish. Use a better container having an oval shape.
- Spread mussels and basil leaves on top.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Salad prepared according to this recipe looks appetizing and has a harmonious taste. This appetizer is loved by almost everyone. If you are cooking food for the festive table, use quail eggs instead of chicken eggs; replace ordinary tomatoes with cherry tomatoes. Such products are cut in halves.
Salad with mussels and rice
Composition:
- peeled mussels - 0, 25 kg;
- rice - 80 g;
- tomato - 100-150 g;
- fresh dill - 20 g;
- fresh parsley - 20 g;
- chicken egg - 1 pc .;
- salt, black pepper - to taste;
- bay leaf - 1 pc .;
- olive oil - 40 ml;
- grape vinegar (6%) - 5 ml.
Method of preparation:
- Boil water, put mussels and laurel leaf into it. Cook for 5 minutes. Drop in a colander. Allow mussels to dry and cool.
- Rinse the rice, cover with clean water, boil until ready, rinse again, cool.
- Finely chop fresh greens.
- Wash tomato, dry, cut into cubes.
- Put mussels, rice, greens and pieces of tomato in a bowl, mix.
- Separate salt, pepper, oil and vinegar separately.
- Fill the salad with the prepared sauce, put it in a beautiful vase or on a dish.
- Cool the boiled egg under cold running water, peel and crumble with a knife.
- Sprinkle an egg over the salad and serve.
The appetizer according to this recipe is hearty, it can replace a full dinner.
Smoked mussels and avocado salad
Composition:
- avocados - 0, 2 kg;
- smoked mussels - 0, 25 kg;
- Bulgarian pepper - 0, 2 kg;
- potatoes - 0, 3 kg;
- lemon - 0, 5 pcs .;
- olive oil - 80 ml;
- salt, black pepper powder - to taste.
Method of preparation:
- Peel the avocados, remove the bone. Pulp cut into slices.
- Boil the potatoes in a uniform, cool, peel, cut into circles.
- Pepper seeds, cut into strips.
- Fry half the pepper in a spoonful of olive oil until soft.
- Place the remaining pepper in the bowl of the blender, pour the juice squeezed from half a lemon, chop to puree.
- Combine the crushed pepper with salt, pepper, remaining oil, beat with a whisk.
- Place potato cups in the center of the dish, spread out the avocado slices around the perimeter.
- Put fried peppers on potatoes, put smoked mussels on it.
- Pour all the pepper sauce.
The appetizer looks so appetizing that hardly any of the guests will resist the temptation to try it. Taste of salad, they will almost certainly not be disappointed.
Salad with pickled mussels
Composition:
- mussels in brine - 0, 2 kg;
- fresh cucumbers - 0, 3 kg;
- cherry tomatoes - 100 g;
- lettuce leaves - 3-4 pcs .;
- pitted olives - 100 g;
- mayonnaise - to taste.
Method of preparation:
- Remove the mussels from the pickle, put it in a bowl.
- Wash cucumbers, blot with a napkin, cut into small cubes, send them to mussels.
- Cut the cherry tomatoes in half, send to the main ingredients.
- Pour olives into the bowl with the other products.
- Add mayonnaise, mix.
- Put some lettuce leaves on a dish, lay out a snack on them and serve it to the table.
Despite the fact that the salad is dressed with mayonnaise, it does not have a high calorie content, and people who have declared the fight to be overweight can afford it. If the presence of mayonnaise in the snacks still confuses you, replace it with a mixture of 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 20 ml of lemon juice and 100-120 ml unsweetened yogurt.
Mussel salad with green beans
Composition:
- mussels in brine - 0, 2 kg;
- string beans - 0.2 kg;
- red onion - 100 g;
- Bulgarian pepper - 0, 2 kg;
- dry red wine - 20 ml;
- olive oil - 20 ml;
- dried basil - a large pinch.
Method of preparation:
- Pour the mussel pickle into a bowl, mix it with olive oil and red wine, add dried basil.
- Dip the beans in boiling salted water, cook for 10 minutes, rinse with cold water, let dry. Put in a bowl.
- Add mussels to beans.
- Cut onion and pepper into thin half-rings, add to beans and mussels.
- Season the salad with brine dressing. Put the snack in a salad bowl.
A light mussel salad, made according to the above recipe, looks appetizing, has a balanced taste and can take a worthy place on a festive table.
How to decorate a salad with mussels
Appetizers with seafood look attractive without any decor, but when serving to the festive table it will not hurt them to decorate beautifully. This can be done in several ways:
- Salads with mussels often contain tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables. It is easy to make flowers from them by cutting them into thin slices and collecting them in a bud. Such flowers are able to give a festive look to any snack, and mussel salad is no exception.
- Cherry tomatoes, olives, quail eggs that make up the salad can be spread out around the perimeter or simply orderly, then the salad will look more presentable.
- The mussels themselves, laid out on the surface of the salad in the form of a pattern, make the salad well-groomed and attractive.
- A salad with mussels will look brighter and more appetizing if you put it on lettuce leaves.
Salad with mussels can be served in bowls. This feed is considered modern. Appetizer in bowls or wine glasses looks elegant, sophisticated.
Mussels salads are cooked easily, quickly. Such snacks are relatively inexpensive but worthy of a festive table. And food lovers who love to eat a hearty meal, and people who follow the figure, will find among these dishes an option to their liking.
