Beetroot salad with garlic: simplicity in variety

Beetroot is a product that really has a huge benefit for the body, in particular in the dietary plan. However, fans of this root is not so much. Why is this happening? Perhaps, because the imagination of some domestic cooks is limited only to such classical dishes as a beetroot salad with garlic and herring under a fur coat? Let's fix the situation together.

First a few words worth giving to the preparation of the main ingredient of salads - beets. It can be present in the dish in both boiled and baked form. The latest version of heat treatment, as practice shows, improves the taste of the finished product.

So, we need root crops of the same (medium or small) size, because the beetroot is already being cooked for a long time. From a practical point of view, our goal is that the readiness of all root crops occurs simultaneously. Rinse the beet thoroughly under running water, scrub it with a brush to remove dirt and dirt. When cooking the peel from the root crops do not remove, cut the petioles - this will save more vitamins. Put a pot of water on the fire and bring to a boil. Put the beets in boiling water and cover. Do not salt. Roasted root crops about 60 minutes, no more. To digest it is not necessary - otherwise the taste of beets will leave much to be desired.

Useful advice: in order for the beet to retain its rich color when cooking, and not turn into something brownish-violet, add sugar to the water at the rate of a half-spoonful for two liters of water. Now your beetroot salad with garlic is guaranteed to look spectacular.

Bake beets should also be in the peel. Put the root vegetables on a baking sheet and put it on a heated oven for 160-180 degrees for an hour and a half. To ensure that the ingredient for your salad does not dry up in the oven, wrap each beet in a foil for baking. And if you have thick-walled ware - boldly bake it directly in it, covering it with a lid.

And after cooking, and after baking, let the beets completely cool down and then proceed to peeling.

And now - the most important from a practical point of view part of the article, namely the recipes of salads.

Beetroot salad with garlic: how to diversify the classics

Cut 500 g of baked or boiled beets with thin straws. If laziness - you can grate on a large grater, but the straws will actually be much tastier. Garlic (1-2 or even 3 teeth - depends on your personal preferences) pass through the press or grate on a fine grater. Mix the ingredients in a salad bowl and season with two or three tablespoons of mayonnaise. Salt, pepper to taste. For those who are not a fan of mayonnaise, you can recommend as a dressing the same amount of sour cream or 50 ml of any vegetable oil (olive, sunflower, corn).

And now the variations on the topic. Instead of prunes in a salad with beets and garlic, you can add a couple of small marinated cucumbers (gherkins), cut into thin strips. Organically in this dish and the presence of a handful of crushed walnut or whole pine nuts. A more bold gastronomic solution can be the addition to the beetroot with garlic halves of sour apples (again cut into strips) or even fresh red currant berries.

And by adding prunes to the beetroot salad with garlic, the dish will become doubly useful, especially if you are constantly caring about your figure. To do this, 200 g of prunes wash, pour boiling water so that the water barely covered the dried fruits, and add here a tablespoon of granulated sugar. When prunes become soft, take out the bones and cut into strips.

Indescribably delicious will be your beetroot and garlic salad, if an additional ingredient to it will be Feta or Adyghe cheese. 150 g of this dairy product in artistic disorder, crumble over the top of the already dressed salad.

By the way, at the beginning of the article we forgot to mention that the beet salad with garlic will be more useful and not less tasty if you use raw root crops for it. However, only young beets are ideal for this purpose. Only in this case, the beets should be rubbed on a fine grater and sprinkled with lemon juice.