Salad of boiled beets and mozzarella. Recipes from Yulia Vysotskaya: beet salad with figs and mozzarella, pink spaghetti, cookies with honey and chocolate

You know, sometimes in our lives there is such a heap of things to do, there is no time, the children want to eat, the husband is about to come home from work, and we need to quickly put something on the table. In my life, such situations happen quite often. What helps me is optimism, the ability to improvise and... homemade preparations. Boiled beets can be just such an “ambulance”. You can prepare it in advance or buy it in a store, where it is sold already boiled, peeled and sealed in a convenient vacuum package. Today we will quickly depict two dishes with it. The first is a salad, the recipe for which I once came up with on the spur of the moment. I would call it a Russian version of caprese, because you can already buy good mozzarella here, but in the winter, alas, you won’t find truly sweet tomatoes that are necessary for caprese. And sweet beets are always at hand. That's why we will prepare a salad with mozzarella and beets. And as companions we’ll take figs and green salad. Figs are my great love. But if you couldn’t find fresh figs, then replace them with dates, just pour boiling water over them first to make them softer and more tender. If you already have boiled beets in the refrigerator, all that remains is to chop everything, assemble the salad according to the recipe and serve, everything will take about ten minutes. The trick here is in the refueling. While we prepare the lettuce and cut the mozzarella, we leave the beets to lightly marinate with olive oil, vinegar and garlic. It also calls for some aromatic herb, I especially like thyme - its slightly citrusy taste suits beets very well. Then place the salad on a flat plate and lightly season each layer with its own separate dressing. When all the ingredients are on the fork, you will feel how rich our impromptu salad has a taste, fresh and sweet at the same time. Just don’t overuse salt - it seems to me that it is the insipid tenderness of mozzarella that makes all the varied ingredients sing in a harmonious chorus.

Number two today is pink spaghetti. Don’t be surprised, we don’t use any dyes, but rely on the same beets. In general, beets are a very bright ingredient, not only in color, but also in taste. It has fruity sweetness, vegetable sourness, and a peculiar “earthy” tint. She is, after all, a root vegetable! It’s this richness of shades that we’ll play with, shading the sweetness of the beets with salty feta. There will be no difficulties with this dish. Unless the sauce, spaghetti and feta will need to be prepared separately first. And then, having thoroughly seasoned the spaghetti with beetroot sauce, place the baked cheese directly on the finished dish so that the colors do not mix and our pink and white composition looks especially impressive on the plate. You shouldn’t keep feta in the oven for a long time, no more than a couple of minutes, we don’t want it to become soggy or burnt, let it become a little softer, but retain the shape of the bars. And finally, to complete the picture, you should lightly sprinkle the finished dish with herbs. Everything you have in the refrigerator will work here, for example, parsley and green onions - an absolutely win-win option.

Today's dessert is biscotti. It seems to be not the simplest recipe; from Italian “biscotti” is translated as “twice baked”. And we actually bake them twice, turning them into very dry cookies, almost crackers. But this recipe will save you a lot of time, because biscotti can be baked in excess, put in a glass jar with a tight lid and stored for at least a week. And if necessary, serve it instantly during tea drinking. True, in our house biscotti usually don’t last that long; their toasty honey barrels look too appetizing from the jar. So everyone in the household furtively races to steal cookies from the jar as soon as they find themselves in the kitchen.

(2 servings)

Ingredients:

• boiled beets 2 pcs.
• fresh figs 3-4 pcs.
• mozzarella in its own brine 1 large (125 g) ball
• arugula (or any salad you like) 100 g
• thyme 3-4 sprigs
• garlic 2 cloves
• dry chili pepper 1 pc.
• olive oil 4 tbsp. l.
• wine vinegar 1 tbsp. l.
• balsamic vinegar 2 tsp.
• sea ​​salt 1 pinch

Cooking method:

Cut the beets into thin slices. Peel the garlic and chop coarsely. Grind the chili pepper. Add garlic, chili and half the thyme to the beets, pour over wine vinegar and 2 tbsp. l. olive oil and leave to marinate for a few minutes. Place the lettuce leaves on a large platter and sprinkle with 1 tbsp. l. olive oil and half balsamic vinegar. Tear the mozzarella and figs with your hands, place on lettuce leaves and drizzle again with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Place the beets on top of the salad, add salt and garnish with the remaining thyme.

For some reason, many people greatly underestimate beets. At best, they cook borscht, herring under a fur coat and vinaigrette with it, and those who know a lot about perversions color mayonnaise with beets. Perhaps the reason for the people's dislike for beets is their increased coloring properties and long cooking time. Of course, this is exactly what happens during cooking; besides, prolonged cooking reduces the beneficial properties of beets: valuable substances pass into the water.

There is a way to prepare red beets that is completely devoid of these disadvantages - baking in foil. There is no need to wash the dishes, everything useful remains inside. In addition, baked beets have a rich taste.

There is no need to peel the beets before baking. Just wash it, cut off the tops and tail, wrap it tightly in several layers of foil (juice may escape) and put it in the oven when baking some dish. Depending on the cooking time, the beets will be soft or crispy (al dente).

An interesting recipe with beets was suggested to us by Jamie Oliver. This is a simple but unexpectedly delicious salad where the sweetness of the beets is balanced by the acidity of the dressing, the neutrality of the soft cheese and the freshness of the lime and mint. Beetroot and mozzarella salad is a great pre-lunch appetizer or a full dinner.

Beetroot and mozzarella salad ingredients:

1 small beet,
4-5 mozzarella balls,
olive oil,
balsamic vinegar,
lime juice,
mint,
salt.

Preparation of beetroot and mozzarella salad:

Wrap the beets in foil and bake in the oven for 30-60 minutes depending on size. Cut the beets into slices, dry with a paper towel and place on a flat plate. Place pieces of mozzarella on top, sprinkle with salt and chopped mint. Drizzle with olive oil, lime juice and balsamic vinegar.

The oranges in this salad complement the beets with their sweet and sour flavor, plus they make the dish very juicy. Well, mozzarella gives a delicate texture...

Ingredients:

green beans
100 g
orange
1 PC.
beet
50 g
arugula
bunch
fresh thyme
2 branches
white wine vinegar
1 tbsp. l.
olive oil
1 tbsp. l.
honey
1 tbsp. l.
hazelnut
10 g
Mozzarella
60 g
Heat water in a saucepan, add beans for three minutes. Drain and cool the beans.
Peel the orange and cut into slices. Pour the orange juice into a bowl and place the orange slices in it.
Peel the beets and grate them on a coarse grater. In a salad bowl, combine beans, arugula and orange. Top with beets and mozzarella, cut into small pieces.
Make salad dressing. Mix thyme leaves, vinegar, oil, honey and remaining orange juice. Pour the dressing over the salad.
Finely chop the hazelnuts or grind them in a food processor. Sprinkle the nuts onto the salad and eat immediately.