Cod liver is a fat and high-calorie product, but there is hardly a nutritionist who advises to eliminate it from the diet. It is a real source of useful substances, among them are valuable polyunsaturated fatty acids, which the body cannot produce by itself. Cod liver salad is a dish worthy of a festive table, but it doesn’t hurt to include it in the daily menu. This is possible, as a tasty and appetizing snack is prepared simply and quickly.
Cooking Features
The recipes for cod liver salads are not alike. This product can replace the main ingredient in salads “Mimosa” and “Sunflower”, it serves as the main component of completely different snacks with green peas, rice, cheese, vegetables. There is no single technology for making cod liver salad; it’s necessary to focus on the instructions accompanying the selected recipe. However, there are several points that should be considered in any case.
- The quality of canned food sold in stores may vary. Pasta mixtures in which cod liver supplemented with cod caviar, flour, decoy and other ingredients are not suitable for salad. The composition of canned foods should be as simple as possible, the liver in a jar should lie in a piece. It does not hurt to shake the can before buying to make sure that half of it is not liquid. It is also necessary to pay attention to the shelf life of the product, inspect the can: it should not be deformed.
- In order to cut the cod liver easier, it is recommended to cool the canned food by putting it in the main chamber of the refrigerator for several hours.
- For the preparation of cod liver salads, most often they use a healthy can oil, in which the product has been mothballed. The liver itself is also fat. Mayonnaise for cooking snacks should be used in a minimum amount. Some recipes allow you to opt out of using this sauce altogether.
- Cod liver is considered a delicacy, but it has a specific odor, from which not everyone is delighted. Adding to the salad, even if in a small amount, of lemon, apples, olives, onions will help neutralize it. The taste goes well with cod liver eggs, they are added to almost all salads based on it.
Cod liver salads have a rather high energy value. Including them in the diet is useful, but you shouldn’t put too much weight on them, especially if your goal is to lose weight and not gain extra pounds.
A simple recipe for cod liver salad
Composition:
- cod liver - 1 can (about 0, 25 kg);
- chicken egg - 4 pcs .;
- onions - 100 g;
- mayonnaise (optional) - to taste.
Method of preparation:
- Eggs boil hard boiled, put under a stream of cold water: so they cool down faster and will be easier to clean.
- Free the eggs from the shell, cut into cubes. Do not shrink much: medium-sized egg cubes are appropriate in this salad - it will taste better.
- Peel the onions. It is necessary to cut it finely.
- Boil water, pour boiling water over the onions. After 2-3 minutes, drain the water. Such manipulation will save the burning product from excessive bitterness.
- Open the tin can, remove the cod liver from it. Cut into about the same pieces as the eggs.
- Put the crushed products in a bowl, pour them with oil from a jar, mix. If necessary, add a spoonful of mayonnaise.
Onions in the salad can be replaced or supplemented with green. With him, the salad is no less tasty, but brighter.
Cod liver salad with vegetables
Composition:
- cod liver - 1 can;
- chicken egg - 3 pcs .;
- potatoes - 0, 2 kg;
- carrots - 0, 2 kg;
- onions - 100 g;
- lemon juice - 20 ml;
- sugar - a pinch;
- mayonnaise - as required.
Method of preparation:
- Boil the vegetables in uniform. Cool them, clean. Cut into small cubes.
- Eggs boil hard boiled. Cool under cold running water. Remove the yolks and mash with a fork. Squirrels finely chopped.
- Free the onions from the husk, cut into small pieces.
- Dilute lemon juice with hot water in a 1: 1 ratio, add a pinch of sugar. Marinate the onions for 15 minutes in cooked composition.
- Cut the cod liver into small pieces.
- Put the onion, cod liver, potatoes, carrots, and proteins into a transparent salad bowl or inside a culinary wrap. Spread each layer of sauce. Sprinkle the salad with yolks.
You can include canned corn or peas in the composition of the salad, they are spread with the top layer. Products that are part of the snack, you can not lay out in layers, and mix, adding to them the oil from the jar, in which lay cod liver. The dish will turn out a little less beautiful, but equally tasty and even more useful.
Cod liver salad with cheese and pickles
Composition:
- cod liver - 1 can;
- potatoes - 0, 2 kg;
- pickles - 0, 2 kg;
- carrots - 100 g;
- chicken egg - 3 pcs .;
- hard cheese - 100 g;
- green onions - 50 g;
- ground black pepper to taste;
- mayonnaise - as needed.
Method of preparation:
- Wash potatoes and carrots. Without cleaning, put in a saucepan, cover with water and boil until cooked. Remove from water, let cool. Clean up. Grind on a grater with large holes or cut into very small cubes, place in separate plates.
- Cook the eggs. After cooling them in cold water, clean. Separate the yolks from proteins. Crush the yolks and proteins separately.
- Cut pickled cucumbers into small cubes.
- Wash, dry, chop onion with a sharp knife.
- Chop cheese on a coarse grater.
- Open the tin can, drain the oil from it - this salad will not need it.
- Finely chop cod liver or mash with a fork.
- Spread potatoes in portions of ice-cream bowls. Pepper to taste it. Place cod liver on top. Sprinkle it with green onions. Make a mayonnaise mesh over it.
- Place chopped pickled cucumbers, egg whites on the onions, put carrots on them, cover with mayonnaise.
- Put grated cheese on carrots, smear it with sauce.
- Sprinkle the salad with grated yolks.
This salad can be collected not in portioned vases, but in a large salad bowl or inside a culinary ring. This snack is most often prepared for the holiday table. The recipe is considered classic.
Cod liver salad with rice
Composition:
- cod liver - 1 can;
- chicken egg - 3 pcs .;
- fresh cucumber - 0, 2 kg;
- green onions - 100 g;
- rice - 150 g;
- mayonnaise - 100-150 ml;
- salt - to taste.
Method of preparation:
- Rice rinse well. It is necessary to rinse until the water becomes clear, otherwise rice grains may stick together during cooking, which will adversely affect the taste and appearance of the snack.
- Fill the rice with water, bring to a boil. Salt the water. Boil the cereal until cooked and rinse again. Wait until the product dries.
- Wash, blot cucumbers with a napkin. Cut off the tips. Cut the vegetable into small cubes.
- Boil and cool the eggs. Peeled, cut them in the same pieces as cucumbers.
- Open the can, take out the main ingredient. Crush it with a knife.
- Wash, dry onions with a napkin. Chop finely.
- Combine products in a bowl, add can oil and mayonnaise to them, mix.
- Put the appetizer in a salad bowl, garnish with fresh herbs and serve.
Fresh cucumbers in the recipe are often replaced with salted ones. In this case, instead of green, white lettuce is used, slicing it into small cubes.
Salad can be laid out in layers, starting with rice, which put cod liver, cucumbers, egg whites, yolks, onions. All layers, except for the last two and a layer of cod liver oil, are coated with mayonnaise. The oil from the jar in this case is not used.
How to decorate a salad
Some variants of cod liver salad require a specific design (“Mimosa”, “Sunflower”), but most of these snacks have no canonical design, which gives the chef an opportunity to decorate them to his own taste.
- Puffy salads are easiest to decorate, giving them the shape of a cake or cake. This will help culinary hoops, inside which you need to lay out the layers. Forms are available in various diameters, some are even equipped with a special press for ease of use. However, you can make such a device yourself by cutting the bottom of a tin can. It is possible to give a beautiful cylindrical shape with the help of such a device not only to a puff, but also to a usual salad, spreading it in portions.
- From above, a cod liver salad can be decorated with flowers made from vegetables, cheese, eggs, olives. Here you need to remember the rule: for decoration only those products that are in the composition of the dish are used. The exception is the greens, which is never superfluous.
- With the help of finely chopped olives, greens, egg yolks on the surface of cod liver salad, various words and symbols can be depicted.
- The tender consistency of most cod liver salads allows them to be used as fillings for tartlets, served in vegetable molds, for example, in “boats” of cucumbers cut along from which the middle with the seeds was removed.
Beautifully, a cod liver salad looks in creamer glasses, glasses, brandy glasses, in unusual-shaped salad bowls with transparent walls.
Cod liver salad is a delicacy appetizer. Useful properties of the main ingredient and ease of cooking can make it not only for the holiday table. When making a salad, you can show imagination and demonstrate culinary skill, artistic taste.
