Vinegret with Herring (Beet and Potato Salad)

Baking the vegetables

1. Homemade vinegret with herring is especially tasty if the vegetables are baked. The microwave does the job quickly and the process needs no supervision.

2. Prepare the vegetables: wash the beets and potatoes and pierce each one all the way through with a small knife. The carrot needs to be peeled, otherwise it will be hard to do later, and rubbed with a small amount of vegetable oil, literally just a trace.

   

3. Bake the vegetables in the microwave. Put them on a large plate, made of a material that is microwave-safe, and bake on full power. The potatoes will be ready in 8-12 minutes, the carrot in 20, and the beets will become soft and start to shrivel a little later, at about 30 minutes. These times are approximate and depend on your oven and the weight of the vegetables, and may be longer. Check doneness by piercing the vegetables with the tip of a knife: it should go in easily. Take out the finished vegetables one by one. Then cover all the root vegetables with a towel and let them cool to room temperature.

   

Preparing the ingredients

1. Prepare the herring: peel the skin off a large Atlantic herring, cut off the fillets and remove all the bones very carefully. If the herring has well-matured roe, keep it for serving the salad. Cut the fillets crosswise into pieces about 15 mm wide.

   Drain the liquid from the canned green peas. Instead of canned peas you can boil a few fresh quick-frozen ones. To keep their color while cooking, add 1 tsp of sugar (5 g) to the water.

   

2. Cut the beets separately and mix with oil, so they stain the other ingredients less. Peel the cooled beets and cut them into small cubes, roughly as for Olivier salad. Pour 1 tbsp of vegetable oil over the beets and stir. When the beets are added to the vinegret with herring, the film of oil greatly reduces the staining of the other vegetables, though it won’t prevent it completely.

   

Assembling the salad

1. Cut and mix the remaining vegetables. Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes. The carrot is already peeled, so just cut it. The cucumber needn’t be peeled if the skin isn’t too tough; cut it into cubes. Put the vegetables in a deep bowl, add the green peas and chopped green onion (I use only the green part). Salt and pepper the vegetables.

   

2. Add the herring, dressing and beets. Add the cut herring fillets to the bowl. In a cup, mix 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and 1 tsp of wine vinegar, whisk the mixture, pour it over the salad and toss. Add the prepared beets and toss once more.

   

Serving

1. Put the vinegret on plates. You can serve it in a salad bowl. Or put a few lettuce leaves on a small plate and mound the vinegret with herring on top, or shape a neat portion using a cooking ring as a mold. Put the roe or milt of the herring alongside. Sprinkle a little chopped herbs or onion on top of the salad.

   

   Serve the salad right away: it shouldn’t sit and weep liquid. It tastes best when very fresh, just mixed. You can add other ingredients, but I like this combination best. You can replace the onion with a sweet red one, and add canned corn instead of peas. Don’t add pickled or fermented vegetables, because the acidity comes from the wine vinegar dressing.