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Salad Vinaigrette

Vinaigrette (russ.: винегрет) is not just a salad. It is a fine mixture of science and art. Specialists argue over the ingredients: some take apples instead of carrots; others add meat or fish and make a dressing using mayonnaise or sour cream. As you know, there's no accounting for taste. Here is a basic recipe and some variations.

Ingredients (serves 4):
200 g (=7 oz) potatoes
100 g (=3.5 oz) beets
1-2 pickled cucumber
1 onion
2-3 tbsp canned peas
2 tbsp oil (sunflower oil is very popular in Russia)
  Salt

Directions

  1. Wash and cook potatoes and beets in their skins. Drain, allow to cool and peel.
  2. Cut cooked vegetables and pickled cucumbers into fine pieces. Chop the onion.
  3. Put everything in a bowl, add pears and oil, season with salt and mix well.
  4. Cover and refrigerate for at least half an hour for best flavour.

Variations:

  • Add 100 g (=3.5 oz) carrots. Cook carrots together with potatoes and beets. Peel and cut into fine pieces.
  • Use salted mushrooms or 100 g (=3.5 oz) sauerkraut instead of pickled cucumbers.
  • Fresh apples give salad Vinaigrette an absolutely different taste.
  • Add 150 g (=5 oz) salted or pickled herring
  • Add 150 g (=5 oz) boiled meat


Interesting:
Some people say the name Vinaigrette derives from the French "vinaigre" (vinegar). But salad Vinaigrette was popular in
Russia long before first French cooks arrived. Not only in France the salad is also known as "salade à la Russe" or Russian salad.

Russian recipes

  • Salads and Appetizers
    Recipes for Russian salads, Mushroom Caviar, Russian eggs, etc.
  • Soups and stews
    Borsch, Solyanka, Shchi and more recipes.
  • Main Dishes
    Recipes for Russian pancakes (bliny), pelmeni, fish and meat recipes.
  • Grilling and BBQ
    Shashlik recipes for Caucasian style barbecue.
  • Baking
    Recipes for Russian pierogi, Vatrushki, an apple pie and cakes
  • Drinks
    Recipes for Kwaß and Cranberry Water with Honey

Russian cuisine

Russian Cookbooks
Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook
Is there more to Russian cookery than beets, cabbage, and sour cream? Please to the Table, a comprehensive guide that takes readers and cooks from the Baltics to Uzbekistan, should absolutely bury that question.
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Russian Cookbook
Easy-to-follow instructions, adapted for modern American cooking, for over 200 mouthwatering traditional dishes: borsch, shashlik of salmon, Russian squab in sour cream, potato kotlety, pirozhki and pirogi, blini, paskha and many more.
$8.95 buy now!
The Best of Russian Cooking
The book presents a mouth-watering array of Russian recipes, including invaluable cultural insights and culinary tips to help you create your own authentic Russian feast. 300 recipes including popular plates and less-known dishes.
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