(Serves 8 to 10)
Recipe
- 1 small salt herring
- 4 medium potatoes, about 1 pound
- 6 large beets, about 2 pounds
- 1/2 pound baked ham, roast pork or cooked veal
- 2 large tart apples
- 1 small onion
- 6 hard-cooked eggs
- 3 pickles
- 1-1/2 cups sour cream
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 3 teaspoons prepared mustard
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons fresh dill (optional)
- Salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- (Heavy cream to freshen salad)
Method of preparation
1. Soak the herring overnight and fillet it according to instructions below. Cut herring into 1/2-inch cubes and set aside.
2. Wash and scrub potatoes. Cook in salt water to taste, about 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and let cool. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1/4-inch cubes. There should be about 2 cups. Put them into a large mixing bowl.
3. Cut off leaves from beets, leaving on 1/2-inch stem and root end (to ensure color does not run from beets during cooking), wash and scrub. Cook about 1 hour or until tender. Drain and let cool. Peel the beets and cut them into 1/4-inch cubes. There should be about 4-1/2 cups. Set aside about 1/2 cup for garnish. Add the remaining beets to the bowl.
4. Cut the pickles into small cubes. There should be about 2 cups. Add them to the bowl.
5. Cut the meat into small cubes. There should be about 2 cups. Add them to the bowl.
6. Finely chop 1 small onion and add it to the bowl.
7. Hard-cook the eggs and let cool. Peel and dice 4 eggs, about 1-1/2 cups and add them to the bowl. Set aside the remaining 2 eggs to garnish.
8. Peel, core and dice apples. There should be about 2 cups. Add them to the bowl.
9. In a small bowl prepare the dressing. Mix together the sour cream, mayonnaise, prepared mustard, sugar, lemon juice, dill (optional), salt and pepper to taste.
10. Add the dressing to the large mixing bowl, mixing gently with spoons until thoroughly combined. Salad should be moist but not runny. Add more sour cream if necessary. Taste for seasoning.
11. Add herring and mix with salad.
12. Transfer to a serving bowl, cover and chill in refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
13. When ready to serve, finely chop the reserved 1/2 cup of beets. Peel and cut the 2 hardcooked eggs into halves. Finely chop the egg whites and yolks separately. Arrange uniform pie-shaped wedges over the chilled rosolje, alternating the chopped beets with the finely chopped egg whites and yolks.
Note: Leftover rosolje will keep up to a week in the refrigerator. To freshen, mix in heavy cream or sour cream until rosolje is again moist.
TO PREPARE HERRING: With a sharp knife cut off and discard head, fins and tail. Slit open the stomach and remove entrails. Slit the fish down the back, cutting off first one fillet, then the other, inserting the knife at the tail end and slicing through as close to the bone as possible. When the fillets have been cut off, skin them by pulling with the fingers, starting with the tail ends. Discard the skins. Rinse the fillets and pat them dry on paper towels.
