Bulgarian Shepherd's Salad with Brynza, Ham and Eggs

Name: Bulgarian Shepherd's Salad with Brynza, Ham and Eggs
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: Bulgarian cuisine
Ingredients: Ripe tomato 2; Cucumber 3-4; Red bell pepper 2; Sweet onion 1; Champignons (optional) 8-10; Ham or ham sausage 100 g; Egg 2; Brynza 100 g; Cheese (kashkaval, Edam, Gouda) 50 g; Parsley 4-5 sprigs; Vegetable oil to taste; Ground black pepper, salt, bay leaf, vinegar to taste

In Bulgaria, shepherd's salad is on most restaurant menus, and although the salads are broadly similar, they almost always differ quite a bit from one another. The name translates as the shepherd's salad, and it is a fairly hearty appetizer that could well be a main course, even though it is not dressed with mayonnaise.

Unlike the meat salads we are used to, the Bulgarian salad contains fresh vegetables: cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. Usually part of the bell pepper is added raw and part roasted, which makes a noticeable difference to the flavour. There is plenty of argument over which shepherd's salad recipe is the traditional or classic one. They say that long ago the recipe was different and the salad was called “Rodopi”. Then a little over 40 years ago, with the growth of tourism in Bulgaria, significant changes were made to the recipe, and by and large the shepherd's salad became what we usually see today.

If you look closely at the recipe and ingredients, you can see that the salad is similar to Shopska salad but has a longer list of ingredients. And so it is: shepherd's salad is a variety of Shopska salad with roasted pepper. Shepherd's salad usually always contains fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, onion and parsley, bell pepper, ham, brynza and the Bulgarian cheese kashkaval, and hard-boiled eggs cut into wedges. The dressing is vegetable oil.

Most of the arguments about the dish come down to the question of whether to add pickled mushrooms to the salad. I'll say this: pickled champignons in the salad are delicious. So there's no need to argue, just cook it the way you like. Similar salads exist in almost all the cuisines of the Balkans and in Turkey. As a rule, the differences between recipes come down to local or religious customs.

If you like, shepherd's salad can be vegetarian – just leave out the ingredients that don't fit. By and large, in its simplest form shepherd's salad is a combination of Shopska salad and Bulgarian pepper salad. Adding ham, eggs and cheese makes the flavour “rich” and unique.

More with ham

Prosciutto Pizza

Mimosa Pizza

Meat Solyanka with Beef and Pork Broth

Buzhenina – Pork Roast Baked in Foil

Ingredients

2 servings

Ripe tomato 2
Cucumber 3-4
Red bell pepper 2
Sweet onion 1
Champignons (optional) 8-10
Ham or ham sausage 100 g
Egg 2
Brynza 100 g
Cheese (kashkaval, Edam, Gouda) 50 g
Parsley 4-5 sprigs
Vegetable oil to taste
Ground black pepper, salt, bay leaf, vinegar to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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First of all, shepherd's salad is about the freshest vegetables: firm sweet bell pepper, ripe red tomatoes, and parsley, which is best left in cold water beforehand. Choose a mild salad onion and a handful of fresh champignons, if you like. Hard-boil the eggs ahead of time and peel them.
Shepherd's salad needs fresh brined brynza, which you grate on the coarse side of a grater, and a slice of semi-hard cheese. In Bulgaria the local cheese kashkaval is added to the salad, which is found here too, though quite rarely. You can happily replace it with widely available Edam or Gouda, perhaps a Dutch one. You need only a little of it. The ham can be any kind, or ham sausage.
If you've decided your shepherd's salad should have mushrooms, don't buy a jar of champignons canned in marinade. I admit I've never found any of decent quality, though that was a long time ago. At home it is easy to prepare fresh mushrooms that taste like pickled ones. The whole process is just boiling the champignons for 5-7 mins in 1 l of water acidified with 1 tbsp of table vinegar, with a bay leaf added. No salt or other spices are needed. That's all there is to it, and such champignons are great for the salad or as an appetizer on their own.
The sweet red pepper needs to be roasted. You can do this in the oven, but the tastiest pepper comes from roasting it over an open flame or in a Bulgarian “chushkopek” roaster. Roast the pepper until the surface is black, then cool it in a closed container, such as a pot with a lid or a plastic bag.
Peel the cooled pepper, removing the burnt skin and seeds. Roasted and peeled pepper, incidentally, is a superb base for salads. It makes a tasty appetizer: marinated Bulgarian pepper with onion and herbs, pepper with garlic, or the delicious Bulgarian hot appetizer of peppers stuffed with cheese, roasted peppers stuffed with brynza and fried in batter or breadcrumbs.
You can assemble the salad on individual plates, but if the dish is for a family lunch, it is convenient to put it on one large platter. Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the seeds, as they aren't needed in the salad, although tomato seeds are quite often present in it. Remove the white parts from the tomatoes, if there are any. Young cucumbers don't need to be peeled, but more mature ones are better peeled. Make sure there is no bitterness. Cut the fresh cucumbers and tomatoes into large, even cubes and put them on the plate, mixed together or side by side.
Peel the sweet salad onion and cut it into thin strips. Spread the onion evenly over the vegetables. Sprinkle the vegetables with a pinch of fine salt. Given how salty the brynza is, you can skip this, though – see for yourself.
Cut the roasted, peeled red pepper lengthwise into thin strips, removing any remaining seeds as you go. Lay the strips of roasted pepper evenly over the vegetables. Arrange the halved boiled champignons on top.
Cut the ham or ham sausage into thin strips. It is very handy if the shop sells ham already cut into thin slices, as for sandwiches, so you only need to cut it into strips. Spread the ham out and sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.
Sprinkle the grated brynza over the shepherd's salad in a white cap, leaving a 4-5 cm margin from the edge. Around the edge, grate kashkaval or another cheese on the coarse side of the grater.
Carefully cut the boiled, peeled eggs lengthwise into four pieces and arrange the quarters around the edge of the shepherd's salad, yolks up. Sprinkle with a pinch of freshly ground black pepper and garnish with a sprig of parsley.
As a rule, the dish doesn't need to be chilled and is served at room temperature. This keeps and enhances the aroma and flavour of the ingredients. Shepherd's salad is dressed with vegetable oil, either olive or sunflower. Dress the salad right before serving, or better yet at the dinner table. The amount of oil is up to you. The salad shouldn't be mixed much – after adding the oil, just toss it lightly.
If you like, you can add just a little grape vinegar to the salad, which noticeably brings out the flavour of the vegetables. Those who like it spicy can add a chopped, peeled hot pepper, which won't hurt.