"Little Fir Trees" New Year's Salad

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   First, drain all the liquid from the canned mushrooms, squeeze them out a little, and add them to a skillet over medium-high heat with no oil at all — the idea is to cook off all their moisture first, and only then add a little oil and fry them. If you're using fresh mushrooms, cut them into fairly large pieces and add them to a hot, oiled skillet, salting them right away — the salt helps draw out their moisture.

2. Step 2:

   

   While the mushrooms fry, let's prep the rest. Start with the beans — if you don't have red beans in the pantry, no big deal, white works too, but red are usually firmer and make this salad a bit more interesting. Drain the beans, rinse them, dry them a little, and add them to a large, nice-looking salad bowl.

3. Step 3:

   

   On to the cheese. Semi-hard cheese is best — a very soft cheese can clump into one big blob, and if the mushrooms aren't cool enough when you add them, you'll end up with melted cheese in your salad. Grate the semi-hard cheese on the coarse side of a grater; cheese is the base of this salad, so be generous and don't skimp on quality. Add the grated cheese to the bowl.

4. Step 4:

   

   Mushrooms, beans, cheese — and of course we can't skip the garlic. Grate a couple of cloves on a fine grater into the bowl. Don't swap fresh garlic for dried here; if you're out of fresh, make a quick run to the store!

5. Step 5:

   

   Dress the salad with whatever mayonnaise you like, to taste. A sun-dried-tomato mayo is a nice touch and really rounds out any salad. Mix everything well.

6. Step 6:

   

   To answer your question — no, I didn't forget the mushrooms; they were just cooling down so they can go into the salad without melting the cheese, as I mentioned. Now that they've cooled, add them to the bowl and mix.

7. Step 7:

   

   Now for the festive part — the presentation! I used a divided serving tray. Spread the salad into it in one even layer and press it down gently so it's level, with no bumps.

8. Step 8:

   

   Next, scatter over the croutons. Crunchy baguette croutons are perfect here, especially with a cheese base — they're not tooth-crackingly hard but soft and tender.

9. Step 9:

   

   Now pluck off little sprigs of dill, rinse them, shake off the water, and arrange them to form these cute little fir-tree branches. And what's a fir tree without ornaments? Decorate with pomegranate seeds — a cheap, easy option — or, for something fancier, use red caviar instead. Enjoy, and happy New Year!