Italian salad - general cooking principles
Italian cuisine is not only about pizza and pasta with all kinds of fillings. This is also a lot of delicious and healthy salads that are not so difficult to prepare at home. Most of the Italian salads are made with vegetables, seafood, meat, olives and, of course, cheese. Cheese is a visiting card of Italian cuisine. Mozzarella, parmesan, Sicilian pecorino, grana padana - all these (and not only) varieties are actively used to prepare a wide variety of salads. The cheeses used differ not only in name, but also in type: soft, hard, whey, semi-soft or moldy. These types are found in most Italian salads. The dishes are dressed mainly with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and various homemade sauces. Many salads contain ham, pasta, tomatoes, shrimps, different types of salads, basil and all kinds of spices (marjoram, oregano, thyme, rosemary, fennel and others). Italian salads can be purely vegetarian, fish or meat salads, as well as hot or cold.
Italian salad - preparing food and dishes
Italian salads are usually served on flat serving plates, but the dish itself is prepared in a deep bowl, in which it is convenient to mix all the ingredients with the dressing. You will also need a small bowl or bowl for sauce, a frying pan, a saucepan, knives, a grater and a cutting board.
All foods must be thoroughly washed and dried, especially vegetables and herbs, as they are mostly used raw. Pre-cut meat is usually fried with spices, then salad is added. Seafood is washed with water and heat treated (boiled or lightly fried in olive oil).
Italian salad recipes:
Recipe 1: Italian salad
This simple yet sophisticated salad is perfect for a light breakfast, dinner or picnic. It is desirable that the cheese, tomatoes and lettuce be of certain varieties, but if these are not available, ordinary products can be used.
Required Ingredients:
Cooking method:
To prepare an Italian salad, you will need a wide salad bowl. Thoroughly wash the tomatoes, cut out the stalks and cut into thin slices. We put the tomatoes in a salad bowl. We take out the cheese balls from the brine and decant the liquid. 30 ml of brine should be left to prepare the dressing. Put the "Mozzarella" on top of the tomatoes. Wash the lettuce leaves, dry them, tear them with our hands in any shape and put them on the cheese with tomatoes. Rinse the basil with water, separate the leaves from the stem and chop finely. Prepare the sauce in a blender: mix sour cream, lemon juice, olive oil, brine, basil and pepper. Season the salad with the prepared sauce. Optionally - you can add a little sea salt.
Recipe 2: Italian pasta salad
This salad belongs to the category of low-calorie vegetarian dishes. Despite this, it turns out to be a very satisfying and healthy snack.
Required Ingredients:
Cooking method:
Cook the pasta until cooked in salted water, put it back in a colander after cooking. Rinse the zucchini, basil and spinach thoroughly. Cut off the hard stems from the spinach, cut the zucchini flesh into thin circles. We tear off the leaves from the basil stalks. Peel and chop the garlic (just not finely). Put garlic, olives, basil in a blender, add lemon juice and vegetable broth. We puree all the ingredients until smooth. Season with pepper and salt. Put pasta, spinach and zucchini in a deep dish and season with the prepared sauce. We decorate the ready-made Italian salad with pasta with grated Parmesan cheese.
Recipe 3: Italian ham salad
This dish attracts not only by its simplicity of preparation, but also by its unforgettable spicy taste. Such a salad is a great treat for guests, especially men will appreciate it. The dish is prepared just before serving and served warm.
Required Ingredients:
Cooking method:
We clean the bulbs and cut them into small slices. Take a non-stick frying pan, add oil, heat and fry the brisket or ham until crispy. Take out the meat and add some olive oil. Put the onion, thyme, nuts in the pan, add a little bit of everything. Fry the food for about five minutes until golden brown. Mix the toasted ingredients with the cape and put them in a nice salad bowl. Add salad and arugula. Sprinkle the dish with vinegar and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Serve this Italian salad while it is still hot.
Recipe 4: Italian salad with figs and ham
Incredibly delicious Italian salad that any gourmet will appreciate. You can find such a salad on the menus of Italian restaurants, but why go somewhere when you can prepare such a delicious meal at home?
Required Ingredients:
Cooking method:
Make a small cross-cut in each fig. Squeeze the figs with your fingers so that the pulp becomes visible. Put the figs on a wide flat dish, on top of each figs put slices of Parma ham. We spread the Mozzarella cheese. Prepare a dressing of honey and lemon juice and pour over its salad. Decorate the dish with finely chopped basil.
Recipe 5: Italian salad with beef and onions
This aromatic and savory dish is sure to become a frequent guest on any festive table, be it a birthday, anniversary date or just a family dinner. Men will be crazy about such a salad, and ladies too.
Required Ingredients:
Cooking method:
First you need to marinate the beef. We wash the meat and cut into small pieces, put in a bowl. Add a marinade of wine, rosemary, vinegar, a tablespoon of olive oil and chopped garlic to the meat. We put the meat in the refrigerator for 3 hours to marinate. Fry the meat until golden brown. Place the meat in a glass bowl. Tomatoes, onions and basil are mine. Cut the red onion into thin half rings and add to the meat. Finely chop the green onion and basil, put in a salad. Finely chop the tomatoes, add to the rest of the products. Prepare a dressing from the remaining oil, two tablespoons of vinegar, red pepper and salt. Pour it over the salad, thoroughly mix all the components of the Italian salad. We line the lettuce leaves on the serving plates, put the salad on top with a slide and sprinkle the dish with parmesan grated on a fine grater.
Italian salad - secrets and tips from the best culinary experts
Even the simplest Italian salad can be turned into a real culinary masterpiece with some secrets and little tricks. First, the proportions of both the main ingredients and the dressings must be carefully observed. The best Italian chefs believe that a chef should not spare oil and should be careful with vinegar and especially with salt. Much attention should be paid to the design of the dish, as the Italians say - “every cook is a little more and an artist”. The order in which the ingredients are added must also be observed. So, all types of salads are laid out last, and they are never cut, but torn by hand. And the most important secret of Italian salads is that they are prepared only from the freshest and highest quality products.
Salads are one of the favorite dishes of Italians. Each hostess has her own secrets of making salads, which are passed down from generation to generation.
Salads are one of the favorite dishes of Italians and, what can we say, Russians too.
In each area of the country, you can taste dozens of "branded" salads, which are prepared according to unique recipes. Italians serve them in addition to fish and meat dishes.
The main distinguishing feature of Italian salads is that they are almost never seasoned with sour cream or mayonnaise. As a dressing, Italians traditionally use extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. In addition, an individual feature of Italian salads is that all ingredients are cut into large pieces. To improve the taste and impart a subtle aroma, it is customary to add many aromatic herbs to it. Many people know that Italians add pasta to salad.
According to one well-known proverb, an Italian salad should be prepared by a chef who is greedy for vinegar, but generous for oil. When adding salt, the chef must be a philosopher, and when combining the ingredients, he must be a good artist.
Italian salad recipes can diversify your menu. You will surprise and delight guests and family members by serving original, hearty dishes - Italian salads.
Here are some recipes.
To prepare Italian salad you will need
The salad is very light and delicious. We are sure that he will go with a bang!
Italian salad recipe
To prepare the salad you will need
Italian salad recipe
To prepare the salad you will need
Italian salad recipe
Italian salad recipe
It will take
How to cook:
Rinse the beans from the juice and mix with finely chopped onions, arugula, olive oil and pressed garlic. Add curd cheese and pour lemon juice over everything. Stir again.
Season the salad and leave for a couple of minutes so that the products are saturated with each other's aroma.
It will take
How to cook
The oven heats up to 200 degrees. During this time, the baguette is cut into thin slices and sent to dry for 5 minutes. Leave the bread to cool slightly and rub the slices with two garlic cloves. Break the bread into pieces, sprinkle with oil and send back to the oven for 10 minutes, stirring to make it rosy. Refrigerate.
Cut the pepper into small pieces. In a preheated frying pan with butter, sauté onion and garlic for 2 minutes, add peppers and tomatoes, cut into 4 pieces. The fire should be made shorter and cook for 20 minutes before the liquid evaporates. Transfer the ingredients to a bowl to cool. Then garlic croutons are added there and salad is served.
Bon Appetit! What recipes from Italian cuisine have taken root on your table?
Cooking time: 2 hours
For 1-2 servings: 200 g of boiled beef, 3 tbsp. l. vegetable oil, 2 tbsp. l. vinegar, salt, black pepper. For the sauce: 1 tsp. mustard, 3 anchovies, deboned. For decoration: 2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 pickled cucumbers.
Cut the meat into thin slices and then brew the marinade from vegetable oil, vinegar, salt, pepper. We lower the meat for 2 hours in the marinade, filter it, put the meat on a dish, covering it with pieces of eggs and cucumbers. Separate sauce.
Cooking time: 50 min.
Ingredients: beans, yellow carrots, potatoes, green peas, beets, vegetable oil, a little vinegar, parsley, mayonnaise, salt.
Boil all vegetables, beans. Dissolve the vinegar in water and boil the beets in it. Cut beets, carrots, potatoes into small pieces. We mix. We fill with vegetable oil, vinegar, salt. Add chopped parsley, slack mayonnaise and move again.
Italian salads are distinguished by their variety and ease of execution. Like all Mediterranean cuisine, they correspond to a healthy lifestyle and high food culture.
We will need
For dressing: a glass of coarsely chopped fresh parsley leaves, ten large fresh basil leaves, a quarter teaspoon. dried oregano, two cloves of garlic, a quarter cup of the best quality red wine vinegar (such as "Gourmet"), three quarters of a cup of good quality olive oil (such as "Lucini" or "Colavita"), three quarters of a teaspoon. salt, a quarter tsp. pepper, one and a half tsp. honey. For the salad: a large head of Romaine lettuce, washed, dried and chopped, a large red bell pepper, also chopped, a glass of chopped cucumbers, a large carrot, chopped into ribbons, a bunch of small tomatoes, a handful of pitted olives, Ricotta or Feta cheese "- in bulk, to taste.
Note
"Ricotta" is sheep's milk cheese, not salted cottage cheese. The cheese has a completely different, exquisite taste and bright aroma. Look for it in the Cheese specialty store. Although Italian salads are simple, they do not tolerate approximations.
How to do it
First the dressing sauce: load all the ingredients into the food processor and stir vigorously. Now the salad: put everything according to the list in a wide bowl. Season very generously, especially lettuce leaves, but only just before serving. Sprinkle with Ricotta.
Tuscan salad
Italian salad recipes can vary significantly depending on the locality in which they are prepared. Here's a salad from Florence.
What is required
Romaine lettuce leaves flavored with Italian sauce, ham, Pepperoni sausage, Italian cheeses (your choice), chopped tomatoes, olives, bell peppers, red onions, olive oil and croutons.
How to do it
Clean washed and dried lettuce leaves generously with Italian sauce (sold ready-made), put on the bottom of the dish, on top - finely chopped ham, sausage, cheese. Then add chopped tomatoes, olives, peppers and red onions. Cut a few slices of white bread into cubes and fry in a pan or oven, drizzled with olive oil. It would also be nice to sprinkle the salad on a platter. Top with a handful of croutons and serve!
Salad with oranges
Italian salads can be extremely refreshing and light. For example, this orange one.
What is required
Slices of two oranges peeled from films and seeds, a quarter cup of finely chopped red onions, chopped green onions, Seven Seas sauce, leaves of half a head of Romaine lettuce, washed and dried.
How to do it
Season the lettuce leaves, place them on a plate, then put the oranges and pour the onions. Add more sauce, stir gently.
Crab salad
This is a recipe for crab salad, one of the most interesting dishes that Italian cuisine has to offer. Salads are especially good for a warm summer day. The dressing consists of a combination of mayonnaise, creamy Italian sauce and Parmesan cheese. Vegetables add an unexpected twist to the palate. Prepare Italian salads. Enjoy.
What is required
For salad: two cups of boiled pasta, one and a half cups of chopped crab meat, half a cup of diced green bell peppers, half a cup of cherry tomato quarters, a quarter cup of chopped green onions, grated Cheddar cheese to taste. For dressing: half a glass of mayonnaise, a quarter of a glass of creamy Italian sauce, a quarter of a glass of grated Parmesan cheese.
How to do it
Boil the pasta in salted water, rinse and put in a large bowl. Place crab meat, green onions, tomatoes, peppers and grated "Cheddar" there. In a separate bowl, combine mayonnaise, cream sauce and cheese. Pour over salad, mix gently. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.