New Year's decoration of salads and snacks. Decorating salads for the holiday: recipes with photos. Decoration for children's birthday: beautiful, fun and edible

The decoration of the room, the table setting, the holiday menu, it would seem that everything is thought out to the smallest detail, but the presentation of the dishes itself is perplexing. How can we create a beautiful New Year's salad decoration for the New Year of the Monkey with our own hands, so that even a simple Olivier salad will become a real photo hero on the Internet? The color palette, treats and decor should fully meet the tastes of the new hostess of the year, so we focus on bright colors and tropical themes.

When preparing for the New Year's celebrations, we must remember that the coming year will pass under the sign of the fire monkey. Based on this talisman, we will seek creative potential for our culinary story.

Color palette for decorating New Year's salads

Warm shades with a predominance of red, yellow and orange are the very nuance that should be taken into account in the color design of the table. Here we are talking not only about serving and stylistic details on the New Year's table, but also about New Year's salad decoration.

Therefore, we immediately take note for decorating those products that suit us in color:

• Bright vegetables: carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers, radishes, red beans, corn;
• Fruits: pomegranates, apples, oranges and tangerines, grapes, watermelon, peaches;
• Red berries;
• Fish products: red fish, caviar.

Thematic attributes of the New Year

Also, do not forget that monkeys are tropical animals, and they will only like all sorts of thematic attributes.

For example, how do you like the idea of ​​decorating a salad for the New Year in the shape of a banana or palm tree?

What if you try to connect the New Year's mood and the hidden talents of the artist and create a monkey portrait in a Santa Claus hat?

An oasis with palm trees, olives and herbs will also look beautiful on the table. Agree, decorating salads is an interesting business, the main thing is to find a source of inspiration. And we are glad to become this very source for you.

How to decorate salads for the New Year

Many housewives, when it comes to serving salads, remain faithful to the principle of a “common plate”, that is, they strive to present a cold dish in an original way, not in portioned plates, but on a common platter.

For a family celebration, this is acceptable and even interesting, because there are a lot of creative ideas on how to beautifully decorate New Year's salads, even if it is a traditional Olivier salad. We have selected the most interesting options for decorating snacks with photos.

Monkey face

To prepare the salad, we will need the products included in the appetizer. If we are decorating an Olivier salad or, for example, a herring under a fur coat, then we can take boiled carrots (1-2 pcs.), 3-5 boiled egg yolks and 2 tbsp. pitted black olives.

1. We form the salad itself on a platter using a pastry spatula in the shape of a monkey’s head with ears and muzzle.
2. Then, with a finely grated carrot, we lay out the top of the head and sideburns, leaving the arches under the eyes, and fill the rest of the surface of the face and ears with crumbled yolk.
3. Now we make the eyes and nose from halves of olives, and lay out the outline of the ears, muzzle and smile with olives cut into thin strips. This cute fiery monkey will amuse guests at the table.

And to follow up on this idea, we offer you salad recipes for the base of a monkey’s face and other options for decorating the New Year’s “Monkey” salad.

Palm

This can be absolutely any salad, laid out in a circle, the top layer of which must be sprinkled with cheese and the edges decorated with curly parsley.

To construct palm trees, we will need to plant pitted olives on bamboo skewers, and form a crown from parsley. We install “trees” in the center of the oasis and enjoy the beauty of the tropical landscape.

Another option for creating a palm tree would be a simple cucumber and bell pepper. The result is in the photo below.

Cactus

Another original serving option will require several leaves of red lettuce and 5 gherkins, 3 carrot “flowers” ​​and toothpicks for decoration.

We line the edges of the dish with lettuce leaves, place the appetizer itself on top of them, and in the center we place a “cactus” of interconnected cucumbers decorated with “flowers.”

Candle

Simple Christmas sketches will also help to emphasize the winter atmosphere of the New Year holiday.

For example, a salad decorated in the form of a Christmas wreath and candle looks very beautiful and truly fabulous on the table.

To do this, the salad should be laid out in the form of a ring, where the top layer should be generously decorated with sprigs of dill or rosemary, a scattering of corn and pomegranate grains, and the candles should be formed from rolled-up slices of cheese for toast, and the lights should be made from a red layer of crab sticks or pieces of red bell pepper .

And this is just one of a great many different options.

Salads on a common platter can be depicted in the form of a bullfinch, penguin, Santa Claus, Kremlin clock, snowman and other winter attributes.

Fruit ideas

But don’t forget that the guest of honor at our feast is still a monkey, so fruit motifs in the design of snacks will be very helpful:

• Orange slice salad
• A cold appetizer according to any recipe, laid out in the shape of a ripe banana and sprinkled with egg yolk on top;
• A pineapple. We place the appetizer on a dish in an oval, decorate it with walnut kernels or pickled champignons, and stick leeks at the base.

Continuing the theme of the tropics for the general joy of the fire monkeys, it would not be amiss to study interesting photo ideas for decorating salads for the New Year in original portioned “cream bowls”.

Vegetable and fruit bowls

Regardless of what exclusive recipes the hostess of the celebration decides to use, the New Year’s dish will look very unique and beautiful in a boat made from a banana peel, an empty half of an orange or an apple, in a “salad bowl” made from pineapple, watermelon or in a melon basket.

And avocado or coconut shells are simply made for a New Year's party in the style of a “monkey carnival”. Vegetables can also be used as portioned salad plates:

• tomatoes,
• cucumber boats,
• eggplant bowls
• bell pepper slices,
• pieces of celery stalk.

Buffet table

For the fashionable trend of the current decade - a buffet, it is most appropriate to serve salads in the form of buffet appetizers.

To do this, you can use tartlets, waffle rolls and cups, cheese baskets or original baskets made of bread (base), straws (support) and green onions (weave) as edible containers.

Dishes with such snacks are guaranteed to cause a storm of positive emotions among your guests. In addition, it is convenient, practical and looks very impressive on the table.

Serving New Year's salad on pita bread

Mexican cuisine is probably to the liking of monkeys, because for many primates this tropical region is their homeland.

Why don’t we please the mascot of the year with salads in a tortilla - a wheat flatbread, and serve snacks like real Mexican burritos, tacos, enchiladas or chimichangas.

Decorating and serving New Year's salad in glasses, bowls, bowls

Wine glasses and martini glasses, glasses and cognac glasses filled with colored salads will look no less original and bright on New Year's tables.

The dishes will definitely create a real fireworks of colors on the table. But we know that fire monkeys are simply crazy about bold color schemes.

Add some tropical decor, and voila, Africa table setting is ready!

Symbols of the year and oriental rituals, along with other New Year's household magic, are very popular and give the celebration a special mood. In their efforts to appease higher powers on the eve of the coming year, housewives are not only puzzled by canonically correct outfits, but also by special table settings and decoration of dishes. What snacks to prepare and how to decorate the salad for the New Year 2017 to guarantee well-being for the whole coming year?

Rules of good manners

In order not to make a mistake in the question of how to decorate a salad in the year of the rooster, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics, habits and preferences of this bird.

The Rooster is a person with character:

• a big fan of order, and therefore you should give preference to layered salads, where everything is in its place;
• energetic, which made him the patron of endeavors and initiatives (including creative ones) - he will like curly salads and snacks in his honor;
• a business executive and owner who favors those who celebrate the New Year with loved ones and take the initiative in preparing for the holiday - the more family members are involved in pre-holiday cooking, the more goodwill the magic bird will become towards the family;
• on the festive table, he will pay special attention to vegetable and grain delicacies - salad with peas, corn, sprouted wheat, etc.

The rooster is quick-tempered, but guests can be even more quick-tempered if on a festive night they are treated only to grain products. This means that snacks and salads should be varied - vegetable and fish. You just have to avoid chicken dishes so as not to anger the Fire Rooster. At the same time, the form of the food should be familiar and pleasing to the king of the chicken coop - hens, chicks, cockerels and any other birds.

Hawaiian salad, or Rooster in pineapples

You can decorate the Hawaiian salad with vegetables and fruits in an original way, using the ingredients used in the preparation of this dish - mayonnaise, champignons, pineapple and crab sticks instead of chicken. Thus, the process of creating a dish with the symbol of the year will be done without a single chicken sacrifice.

To prepare and decorate the salad you will need:

• crab sticks or meat - 500 g;
• mayonnaise;
• pineapple (canned) - 400 g;
• stewed or canned (chopped) champignons - 400 g;
• boiled quail egg.

Some housewives add grated cheese, eggs and potatoes to make the dish more filling.

1. The bulk of the products can be laid out either in layers or in a mixture.
2. It is important to fill the top layer with mayonnaise and leave some products for decoration.
3. From half an egg you can make a bird's head, from a colored fragment of a crab stick you can make a beak, comb, paws and crop.
4. The small pineapple wheel will be the body with mushroom wings. You can also depict the body of a bird using pieces of cheese.
5. All ingredients are suitable for the tail - crab sticks, pineapple, mushrooms, cheese - the more magnificent the tail, the tastier it is. You can supplement it with feathers of greenery.

Another way to decorate jellied salads is to color the jellied sauce with food coloring and draw a bird using a pastry bag.

Decorating salads for the New Year 2017, if it is supposed to depict birds, often involves making decorative elements from vegetables - combs from boiled carrots, wings from bell peppers and a tail from green onions. When planning to include ingredients in a salad that are not indicated in the recipe, it is important to consider the degree of their taste compatibility with the dish.

Hen on the nest

There are a great many variations on the theme of the nest in cooking. Decorating salads for the New Year 2017, photos of which can be found on the Internet, are often built on the same principle and are an ideal way to decorate salads whose ingredients are cut into strips or are fibers:

• carrot-cheese;
• from sea or fresh cabbage;
• radish with mayonnaise and many others.

The mass is formed around the plate and served chilled.

An alternative to these well-known options is the Chicken appetizer.

Required:

• boiled pasta;
• ham, boiled sausage or boiled pork;
• mayonnaise or cream sauce;
• greenery;
• bell pepper (yellow and red);
• boiled egg;
• black pepper (peas);
• tomatoes.

The Rooster's negative attitude towards the production of New Year's delicacies from poultry meat, fortunately, does not extend to egg dishes, without which many salads and baked goods are impossible.

1. Cut the tomato into slices and arrange in a circle on a plate.
2. Cut the ham into strips and mix with pasta.
3. Chop the greens and mix with mayonnaise.
4. Season the ham and pasta with the resulting sauce.
5. Place the pasta-ham mixture in a small mound on the tomatoes.
6. Cut out the beak, wings, tail and crest from the pepper.
7. Make a longitudinal cut in the egg for the scallop (red pepper).
8. Make indentations for the beak, wings and tail (yellow pepper).
9. Insert the parts into the base and place the “hen” on the “nest”.
10. Tomato slices can be replaced with sliced ​​meat or bell pepper rings.

You can make a chicken company out of chickens. The top part of the egg needs to be cut off so that you get a “chicken in a shell” blank, and the beak and eyes should be made using peppercorns and vegetables. Using the same principle, small chicks can be made from boiled young potatoes.

The Golden Cockerel

Rice salad with crab sticks, “Theatrical” and the usual “Olivier” can be turned into a cute chicken or a charming chicken just before serving. It is advisable that the mass be pre-cooled - this way it will not spread across the plate.

1. On a large, flat dish you need to form an oval - the body of the bird.
2. The head is made from a salad ball.
3. The bird is sprinkled with grated orange cheese, egg yolk or grated carrots.
4. For decoration (beak, wings, tail and comb) carrots (boiled or fresh) or bell peppers are used.
5. This method can be used to decorate salads with a rough texture (the ingredients are cut into cubes).

You should turn “Mimosa” into “Chicken” at the stage of laying out the layers - they should follow the shape of a small bird. The traditional topping of this popular salad is perfect for giving the bird the color it needs.

Eyes for such culinary forms are made from sections of olives and quail eggs.

Radish with cucumber: for those who take care of poultry

Even on New Year's Day, not everyone can taste the meat or fish delicacy. For voluntary and forced consumers of vegetable dishes, there is an excellent option for a vitamin snack, which is laid out on a plate in the shape of a cockerel.

Ingredients of a premium dish:

• fresh carrots - 1 pc.;
• lettuce - a couple of small leaves;
• fresh cucumber - 1 pc.;
• tomato - 1 pc.;
• bell pepper (red) - 14 pods;
• radish (large) - 1 pc.

The carrots are cut lengthwise and shaped so that each slice turns into a feather.

1. Tomato slices, cucumber and radish wheels are laid out on carrot “feathers”.
2. The body is formed from lettuce strips and bell pepper.
3. To make the bird's head you will need a radish wheel and carrot trimmings.

Not all components of the adult holiday menu are to the taste and benefit of the little participants in the feast, who love curly snacks most of all. For children, it is not difficult to decorate almost any dish in the shape of a cockerel, not just salad. In this case, ideas for decorating salads for the New Year 2017 at home come down to laying the mass on a plate in the form of a bird’s head, the comb and beak of which are figuratively carved from denser products.

Another trick that will help you arrange snacks according to all the rooster’s rules is to serve dishes in containers depicting birds. Holiday traditions are observed, and the hostess saves a lot of time.

How to beautifully decorate salads with your own hands for the holiday table? After all, cooking is a real art, and it is designed to please the eye, smell and, of course, taste. Therefore, it’s one thing to cook, another thing to serve. But why not combine these two useful skills?

For example, decorating salads for New Year and Christmas. This is a great activity that will cheer up not only the guests, but also the hostess herself, who is probably tired from long preparations. There are a lot of ideas, so let’s focus on the simplest and at the same time very original ones.

The symbol of the coming 2019 is the Yellow Earth Pig. The East is a delicate matter, and the attitude towards the image of a pig there is also peculiar, for us - unusual.

It is believed that this animal represents home comfort and material well-being. The pig protects family peace, it monitors material comfort and at the same time radiates good nature and serenity.

Therefore, a pig must be present on the table. Moreover, if someone does not like pork meat, no problem. DIY salad decoration in the shape of a pig can also be made from other products that can be found in any refrigerator.

And by the way, according to popular belief, serving pork dishes on New Year’s Eve is not recommended at all. We'll make do with beef, chicken, turkey, fish - and who knows what other meats. But we won’t offend the pig, she is the mistress of the year.

Decorating salads with the symbol of the year

A piglet is a “comfortable” animal. He is well-fed, his body is round, without pretentiousness. Compare, for example, a rooster (symbol of 2018) and a pig - which is more difficult to do? Therefore, there is no problem in making a lying pig from lettuce mass. You can also call hardworking kids to help - let them make a shape or cut out “details”: ears, legs, snout.

However, how to achieve a delicate pink color so that the “pig” turns out milky and pleasant to look at? We will act like this:

Step 1. First, spread the salad mixture onto a pre-prepared dish. It should be an oblong large plate. We put lettuce leaves on it, and then the salad itself (you can use Olivier salad, or indeed any meat salad).

Step 2. Then we form 2 parts - a small ball for the head and an oblong body in the shape of a cucumber. Although you can leave it as is - let the pig be so well-fed that the head will smoothly transition into the body.

Step 4. Now you need to achieve pink color. To do this, cook the beets (they will then be used as herring under a fur coat), take a few spoons of the broth and mix them with sour cream or snow-white mayonnaise. Mix thoroughly until pink.

Step 5. Lubricate the surface of our pig with this mixture.

Step 6. Cut out a snout from the sausage (don’t forget to cut 2 holes), a tail (a strip that can be folded and secured with a toothpick), and 2 ears. We make the eyes from black olives. The ears are also cut out of sausage - 2 thin triangles with non-pointed edges.

Step 7. Serve with vegetables and herbs. It turns out to be such a wonderful pig.

There is another, more interesting option, when the piglet’s body is clearly expressed. Here we need to work in exactly the same way. And you can decorate the top with small shavings of ham - for this, the sausage is crushed using a fine grater.

If you follow the traditions of this New Year, you need to exclude pork from the menu. We replace it with poultry ham - it can be easily purchased at any store.

On the other hand, we are in the Year of the Earthy Yellow Pig. And it’s very easy to make yellow from ingredients. Take the egg yolk, grind it on a fine grater and apply it completely to the surface.

And a very interesting decoration can be made from boiled squid carcasses stuffed with any salad. The forked pieces at the end of the carcass will just pass for the ears. And how to make a patch and other elements is already known.

You can fill such a carcass with a salad with crab sticks or seafood - they harmoniously combine with squid in both taste and appearance.

Decorating snacks for the Year of the Pig: jellied meat

As we remember, it is better to put beef, fish or poultry dishes on the New Year's table in the Year of the Pig. Therefore, let's cook it or beef - and then decorate it in an unusual and beautiful way!

So, let’s cook the jellied meat and pour it into a regular plastic bottle. We do it like this:

• take a bottle with a capacity of 1 or 1.5 liters and pour broth with meat and gelatin into it - gradually;
• Gently tap the sides of the bottle so that the air comes out and the broth settles and is distributed evenly;
• It is important that the bottle is full by the time the jellied meat begins to harden. You can mix the contents, for example, with a stick or a thin long knife;
• All that remains is to place such an unusual jellied meat vertically in the refrigerator - and let it freeze properly;
• When it hardens, carefully cut the bottle in several places and take out the jellied meat.

And now - a decoration in the shape of a pig: take pieces of sausage and cut out the ears and snout (you can use a bottle cap). We attach the patch with two clove buds. We make a slot for the ears and insert them. Cut a tail from sausage or fresh pepper and attach it. The eyes are made from olive rings, also secured with cloves.

Place the jellied pig on a plate and decorate with herbs and vegetables.

And here’s another one for New Year’s or Christmas - with funny little piglets made from eggs.

How to decorate a herring under a fur coat: 10 photos for inspiration

Of course, one of the traditional New Year’s dishes, and indeed treats of Russian cuisine in general, is. And you can’t decorate it with a pig, because the base of the appetizer is fish. This means that the decoration should be associated with it.

There are several interesting options for this. Usually the tail and head of the fish are mercilessly thrown away, because they have no nutritional value. But they are quite suitable as decoration!

We spread the salad mixture in an even layer in the shape of a fish so that one end is a little sharper, the other is flatter (egg shape). We insert the head at one end and the tail at the other. We draw the skeleton of the fish using mayonnaise, and decorate the edges of the salad with peas and herbs.

Why not rethink the image of the fish and present it in the form of a kind of Snow Maiden who comes to our festive table every year? We spread the salad mixture in the form of a coat with a hood.

The edges can be decorated with finely grated cheese - lovers of classic herring under a fur coat will simply take the salad from the edge where there is no cheese. Decorate the center beautifully with berries, having previously “drawn” a stripe using mayonnaise.

You can make another interesting option using different types of confectionery sprinkles. In the hands of such a Snow Maiden is a sprig of mimosa, which is made from dill and grated egg yolk.

Of course, salads can be decorated both as shown in the photo and with the help of your own imagination. It is intuitively clear that you can lay out a fish figurine from the lettuce mass.

But other elements can be made from appropriate products. The scales are onion half rings, the fins are carrot triangles; They also make a mouth out of it; the eye is a circle of egg with olives or allspice. Simple and very beautiful.

The fish can be made in another way. Decorate the scales, mouth and fins with beets and carrots. You will get such a glamorous lady. The eyes are made of eggs and olives.

If you apply a layer of mayonnaise to the salad mixture and lay out the scales of olives, and the tails and heads of grated carrots, you get this fish.

And of course, you can move away from the “fish” theme and decorate the herring salad under a fur coat in a more original way. For example, in the form of classic birch and fungi. We “paint” them with olives and mayonnaise, and decorate with parsley.

Or get creative and make a salad that, to some extent, can be called Moscow. We draw the Kremlin from beets, the dial from egg white. We make a Christmas tree from pickled cucumbers and circles of carrots and eggs. Snow is also made from eggs, and people are cut out from olives.

Decorate with mayonnaise and place on the table. Guests will never guess that this “Moscow” salad is based on the classic herring under a fur coat.

And here is a romantic option with a beet rose. How to do it is a separate conversation (more details below).

From such roses and other flowers you can create a whole “flowerbed” or “clearing”. A great option for a New Year's feast or even a romantic evening!

And there is a simpler option with flowers made from corn and olives.

Salad decoration: beet rose

But let's get back to the roses. They are made from boiled beets. It needs to be cooled and cleaned. Then we proceed like this:

Step 1. Cut the root vegetable in half, and then cut into very thin slices. This is done using a combine harvester or a pair of skilled hands armed with a very sharp knife (carefully!)

Step 2. We make the rose in several stages - we go from the core to the edges. First, take a small piece and roll it into a fairly tight tube.

Step 3. Now we hold this core, and then we wrap new slices around it - literally 2-3 more pieces.

Step 4. Continuing to hold this structure in our hands, we fasten it with toothpicks. We cut off the excess parts from the bottom. Interestingly, there is another manufacturing option.

A rose can be made from beet strips that do not curl, but rather turn outward. Then you will get a flower like this.

Needless to say, such an element for decorating salads for the holiday table can be used for almost any dish - for herring under a fur coat, as shown in the photo, aspic from meat or. The rosette is well suited for both fruit and vegetable salads.

And the beauty is that, if desired, any man can do it to pleasantly surprise his beloved lady. A romantic mood will be guaranteed.

Festive decoration of Mimosa salad - step by step with photos

It is difficult to imagine a holiday table without our favorite fish salads - the already mentioned herring under a fur coat, Mimosa salad. By the way, you can cook it too.

But have you ever made it in the form of balls? This is an excellent option for the New Year's table, for a birthday, for the arrival of guests, as well as for a buffet table.

So, we will need:

• 1 can of canned fish (basically any kind);
• 1 large potato or 2 medium;
• 1 carrot;
• 2 eggs;
• hard cheese - 100 g;
• a bunch of green onions;
• 5 tablespoons sesame seeds;
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce;
• 2 tablespoons of sour cream (or mayonnaise - to your taste).

We will act like this:

1. Boil eggs and vegetables in their skins, cool in cold water, peel and grate on a fine grater into one container.
2. Mash the canned fish (to your taste) with a fork and place it in the same container.
3. Finely chop the green onions and add to vegetables, eggs and fish.
4. Grate the cheese onto a fine grater and pour it there.
5. Then add sour cream, soy sauce and mix very thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is formed. Tip: if you use mayonnaise, you don’t need to add soy sauce.
6. Now we take pieces of the tasty mass with our hands dipped in water and roll them into balls, approximately the size of a large walnut.

Dry the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan until golden brown, transfer to a deep bowl, and let cool slightly. Now roll the balls in the seeds.

The Mimosa salad in balls is ready - this is such an original design.

DIY salad decoration: 10 options with photos

New Year also means a Christmas tree, kind Grandfather Frost, Christmas tree decorations and other joys. All these figures can also be depicted or even “made” from the most ordinary salads.

Here are a few more options for decorating salads with your own hands (photos and step-by-step descriptions are attached).

Christmas tree

Let's start with something very simple. Almost any salad can be placed in a mound, greased with mayonnaise or shavings of white cheese, and generously decorated with dill sprigs and pomegranate seeds. And on top put a star cut out of a tomato, bell pepper or carrot.

What happens? That's right - the main symbol of the New Year: the Christmas tree.

Another version of the Christmas tree is in the form of a lush tree lying on a plate. We decorate with small streams of mayonnaise, make “toys” from pomegranate seeds, corn, peas, carrots, olives, eggs. Or you can not be stingy and add a few eggs.

Such delicious Christmas trees can be made from pieces of any product: sausage, lemon, fresh cucumber, avocado, cheese, kiwi and other fruits. They are cut into equal parts and strung on strong wooden skewers. This must be done very tightly so that the “product” takes on the desired shape.

Boat with sail

Another option is a decoration in the shape of a sailboat, which is made from two cucumber slices (it’s better to take fresh ones): a thicker one for a boat, a thinner one for a sail.

You can decorate it very effectively and tasty this way.

Or from colored bell peppers.

Santa Claus

Since there is a Christmas tree, where is Grandfather Frost? Here's how to beautifully decorate salads with one of the main symbols of the New Year's celebration.

Here the idea is quite clear - on the surface of any prepared dish (for example), we place a beard made of eggs or cheese, a face made of egg yolk, a cap made of tomatoes, a coat of bell peppers and eyes made of olives.

And there is another quite interesting option - we’ll make a grandfather from a stuffed tomato (fresh). His beard is made of mayonnaise, his eyes are made of pepper, his nose is made of pomegranate seeds. And inside - any or grated yolk. Or even .

Holiday candle

But here is the whole picture in 3D format. New Year's candles are also an interesting and rather original plot. We spread Olivier or other festive appetizer in an even layer, decorate with greenery and pomegranate seeds, with which you need to “draw” beads.

We make candles from a piece of cheese, which is wrapped in a tube and secured with a toothpick. It is better to roll the piece in several layers so that the “candle” turns out to be quite dense. Let's make a flame from a piece of tomato or pepper.

Balls you can eat

Now let's stick some New Year's balls. Of course, you won’t hang them on the Christmas tree, but you will definitely eat them with pleasure. Any snack can be shaped into a ball.

We spread the mixture in the form of a circle, decorate the central part with boiled grated carrots, and greens around the edges. We can also decorate with olives, mayonnaise and a sprig of dill, which will serve as a “loop” for hanging this delicious “toy”.

You can easily form a ball from dense salads, decorate it with an olive and a sprig of dill - you get a 3D ball. And to give it shape, you can put it in the freezer for a while. When serving, decorate with herbs and vegetables.

But this is real art, which is also based on simple products. You can choose any meat salad and form it into 3 fairly large balls.

Next, grate some blue cheese (a real delicacy), egg yolk and boiled sausage or ham. Place shavings on each ball. Decorate with pepper, carrot or egg stars and decorate with herbs.

And if there are no blue cheese lovers, everything is very simple - let's have a little fun. Let's get the juice from red cabbage and pour it onto finely grated whites - we'll get the same effect.

Hours: 5 minutes before New Year

Another symbol of the New Year is a clock that begins counting down to the onset of magic. They can be made from the same products - greens, carrots, pomegranate seeds, olives are used.

Palm trees, cones and something else

In general, you can move a little away from the festive New Year theme and remember the hot tropics. We string an olive onto a skewer, decorate the top with herbs and get beautiful palm trees.

And there are many, many more ideas on how to decorate salads with your own hands (they can be seen in the photo). Any salad can be wrapped in a pancake, from which you can make a gift bag.

Or arrange almonds in the form of cones.

And for Christmas you can make a wreath of cherry tomatoes.

Happy holidays! Have a good mood!

Irina Kamshilina

Cooking for someone is much more pleasant than cooking for yourself))

The definitions of “tasty” and “attractive” in relation to dishes are not always synonymous, but it is desirable that they go hand in hand. The aesthetic pleasure of contemplating a salad can also affect its taste perception. After a positive solution to the question “how to cook,” the housewife begins to worry about a new problem: how to choose a worthy decoration idea.

How to decorate a salad

Having started to solve this issue, you need to add one more element to the list of conditions - the reason for which the salad is being prepared. A wedding, birth of a child, anniversary, New Year require adherence to a certain theme. If you just want to diversify your everyday table, decoration may consist of a new technology for arranging ingredients and even choosing a more attractive dressing. A good example is restaurant salads, which are often devoid of obvious decoration, but look great both in glossy photos and in real life.

• The fastest way is to find an original “container”: half a pumpkin, zucchini, pepper.
• Choose a recipe that contains an unusual combination of colors or shapes - such a salad will no longer need to be decorated.
• Sliced ​​meat and cheese as a base for the main salad pile is a simple and healthy option for decorating a portioned dish.

Decorating salads for the New Year

A universal idea for decorating such a dish would be to give it the shape of a Christmas tree. This option suits even the traditional Olivier salad: if there is a characteristic silhouette, green is not necessary, but garlands of olives and corn will be a beautiful addition. Professionals suggest trying to push off from next year’s patron. Simple ideas for decorating New Year's salads:

• Snake shaped according to any recipe that includes mayonnaise. The scales are lined with thin semicircles of cucumber or peas, the eyes are lined with olives or corn kernels.
• The dragon is created by analogy with a snake, but it needs whiskers from dill sprigs, and small leathery wings can be made from Chinese cabbage leaves.
• The tiger's face is a circle with ears, covered with grated carrots, eyes made of egg whites and olives, and a tongue made of boiled sausage. The base of the salad can be made from pate with eggs and cucumbers.

How to decorate a salad for a birthday

For such a holiday, the central dish is mainly complemented with verbal congratulations. If you decide that it will be a salad, it may turn out to be even more impressive than a cake. However, how to decorate a salad for a birthday if it is only one of the majority of dishes on the festive table? Professionals give the following advice:

• Try to build on the time of year of the birthday person. In decoration, you can only follow the time scale characteristic of the season (yellow-red for autumn, white-blue for winter, etc.), or fully draw parallels - “sketch” leaves, snowflakes, flowers.
• You can try making a festive salad for a woman, especially one presented on an anniversary, in the form of a large bouquet. Which flower to choose for decoration depends on the tastes of the birthday girl and your capabilities: gerberas are easy to arrange, tulips also form quickly. You'll have to tinker with the lilies.

Salad decorations for children

If the dish is aimed at a child, you can build on his individual preferences and interests - according to professionals, this is a win-win option. Decorating salads for a children's party can be done in several ways:

• Giving an unusual shape. This move is also used in preparing a cake for a child. The ingredients of the dish are arranged so as to create a “sculpture” on the plate: a bear, a bunny, a car, a ball, etc. The complexity of this method of decoration is that it is only suitable for salads where there is a binding component: sour cream, mayonnaise. Those. thick and dense in consistency, otherwise the figure will quickly fall apart.
• Creating a painting on lettuce. There is no need to “write” masterpieces: even a simple sun and small but bright flowers will already attract children’s attention. An equally interesting decoration is the characters of your favorite cartoons.
• Volumetric decor. You'll have to look for step-by-step instructions on how to prepare different figures for decoration and practice. If you have portioned salads, you can distribute them into “boats” of cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, add a toothpick with plastic cheese - you will get real ships, ready for a long voyage.

How to decorate the salad

Culinary professionals are confident that beautiful salad design is possible with any product - from cucumber to raw smoked sausage. You can create an original decoration, even if the recipe only includes onions, raw beets and vegetable oil. A little imagination, a bit of skill, a little free time, and the dish will get an original look. Dyes that can be obtained from simple products deserve special attention:

• For red – cranberries, lingonberries, pomegranate seeds. Vegetables: tomatoes.
• For raspberry - beets.
• For orange – sea buckthorn, oranges, juice squeezed from carrots.
• For yellow – saffron, egg yolk, corn.
• For blue, squeeze the juice from red cabbage.
• For green – spinach.
• For black - olives.

Decoration for vegetable salads

For this design option, you need to make sure that the products can hold their shape for a long time, so it is used mainly for items that have not undergone heat treatment. To decorate the dish, figures of vegetables are cut out and placed on the plate in a random or pre-designed order. Or simpler classic decoration options are possible:

• “cobwebs” or mayonnaise/sour cream inscriptions;
• twigs, bunches of greenery;
• halves/quarters of olives;
• grated cheese, boiled meat or sausage, free of fat;
• egg shavings/crumbs.

How to beautifully decorate salads with nuts

This method of decoration is valued for its speed and simplicity. Even the basic sprinkling of crushed nuts on the finished salad already makes it more attractive, and if you come up with the idea of ​​​​using the shape of the kernels, you can create a whole picture. A winter salad decorated with walnuts is a classic of the holiday table genre, and sesame grains on a dietary assortment of greens is an ideal way for a “tasty but easy” option. The nuts must be roasted first.

Egg decorations for salads

For such a decorative idea, you first need to figure out how to cook eggs so that the yolk does not fall apart when working. Professionals practice this cooking:

1. Place the eggs in cold water to cover them completely.
2. Wait until it boils.
3. Count down 9 minutes.
4. Remove and cool quickly.

Decoration mainly involves the creation of bouquets or single flowers on the surface. To do this, the egg is cut longitudinally, and the resulting oval halves are laid in the desired direction and in the desired shape. There are several more options:

• Petals can also be made from “slices”: the egg is also cut vertically, but into several plates 0.4-0.7 mm thick.
• For simple decorations, take the yolk from a boiled egg, which can be turned into crumbs - it is great for simply sprinkling on the surface. It is also used to form yellow mimosa balls in the salad of the same name.
• If you remove the yolk, the remaining long half of the boiled white can be turned into a boat. By placing a stick with a bent circle of cucumber, or plastic cheese or even red fish, vertically in it, you can get a small boat.

Original salad design

In addition to the previously listed ways to make an interesting dish, there are several more unusual options. With such original ideas, decorating salads and appetizers will become especially enjoyable:

• Jelly. Can be used for pouring ingredients, so that after the frozen salad is cut and served in portions. An alternative way to decorate is to create dense figures and decorate the dish with them.
• Ice. Make a bowl of frozen water with vegetable pieces in it and serve the salad in it.

Carving decoration

Such original design of salads and appetizers can be found in restaurants, especially when it comes to preparing a holiday dish that has high aesthetic requirements. Carving design involves shaped cutting of vegetables or fruits, but can be used with cheese and sausage. Homemade carving for decorating dishes is not only beautiful in the end, but also a pleasant time with your child.

Arm yourself with a sharp knife (it’s better to take several, of different sizes) and try the following simple ideas for decorating your homemade salads:

• Cut the boiled sausage into thin circles, bend each in half, stack on top of each other in 0.5 cm increments, and form a bouquet.
• Using a peeler, cut the cucumber into long flexible layers and form them into a blossoming bud.
• From a fresh whole cucumber, you can use the tip of a sharp knife to cut out a large curved drop, make veins on the surface and get a large green leaf.

Beautifully decorated salads - photo

To structure the information presented above, it is worth looking at ready-made compositions, then breaking them down into components. This will help you decorate the dish yourself. Simple step-by-step options for beautiful salad design with photos:

• Christmas wreath. The base can be any (herring under a fur coat, crab salad, etc.), it is laid out in a ring. Decoration: sprigs of dill. On top you can put stars cut out from cheese, carrots and sweet peppers.
• Mimosa. Fast, simple, tasty. Submits even to an inexperienced mistress. Placed in layers in a glass (!) bowl: pieces of salted fish, grated boiled whites, grated carrots, chopped onions, boiled mashed potatoes. Decoration – crumbled yolks. Mayonnaise between layers.
• Garnet bracelet. Professionals advise placing a glass in the center of the dish - this will create a ring. The ingredients are placed again in layers: pieces of boiled chicken, grated carrots, mashed potatoes, crushed nuts, grated boiled beets, more nuts, fried onions, more nuts. On top of the “slide” is mayonnaise, which is tightly covered with grated beets. Decoration: pomegranate seeds.
• Rubik's Cube. An interesting idea is to cut each dense ingredient into small squares that are folded into a cube. To prepare the salad, take cheese, beets, carrots, and cucumber.

Video: how to make a rose from a cucumber - salad decoration

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