Best Layered Salad Cake
I haven't posted recipes for layered salad in a long time. Lately, we've been trying to make them as light and simple as possible. Now I am posting this Salad Cake or Appetizer Cake so you can tell it's really worth it ... I tasted it at a festive meal this summer and since then I've kept thinking about it. It was wonderful, though the combination of ingredients doesn't look so special at first sight. The secret and the fine taste come from the prunes with nuts. It is hearty, but you can make it lighter, if you use some cream instead of mayonnaise, or combine mayonnaise with yogurt.
The original recipe is called "Salad Numer One in the World". I was slightly more modest - I called it simply "Salad Number One". It's worth the effort, it's beautiful, impressive and will surely be successful at any festive meal.
With this appetizer cake, today we celebrate 3 years since our Mariuka fixed us with her serious gaze at the maternity ward, since I smelled her and I still can't get enough of sitting with my nose in her belly ...
Wash well the potatoes and the carrots and place in the same pan. Bring to the boil.
When they come to the boil, simmer over low heat for 30-40 minutes, then rinse well with cold water and peel. Allow to cool completely.
Drain the canned mushrooms and cook with a little oil.
Mine were fresh, I cut them into thin slices and, the same, cooked with some oil.
When they start to brown, add the finely chopped onion and leave for another 5-10 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, turn off the heat and allow to cool completely.
In the original recipe, the chicken breast is simply boiled for 1 hour.
I preferred to marinate with yogurt and bake in the oven - as in the Turkish style baked chicken recipe.
Allow the meat to cool properly.
Prepare the mayonnaise. If you want it homemade, you have here the classic mayonnaise recipe or the quick mayonnaise recipe.
If you want a lighter salad, use sour cream or creamy yogurt. Don't forget about the salt and pepper.
We mount the salad on a large flat plate. In order to keep a perfectly round shape, I recommend using the detachable walls from a springform pan.
Place like a ring on the plate and mount the layers strictly on the inside.
Layer 1:
The carrot grated on the medium-holes side and well greased with 2-3 tablespoons of mayonnaise.
Layer 2:
Grate the potatoes through the medium grater and use half of the whole amount for this layer - spread over with mayonnaise.
Layer 3:
Grate the eggs through a small or medium grater and use half of the whole amount here.
Layers 4, 5:
Finely grate half of the cheese and fix another layer.
Cut the chicken into small pieces and spread over half the amount.
Grease well with mayonnaise now - notice that I don't put sauce right after each layer, we don't want the salad to be too heavy.
Layer 6:
Put the cooked mushrooms with onions.
Layer 7:
Now put the other half of the potatoes, grease with mayonnaise.
Layers 8, 9:
Arrange the rest of the amount of eggs and chicken, grease with mayonnaise.
Layer 10:
Now put the finely sliced prunes and the walnuts roughly chopped.
Layer 11:
Grease well with mayonnaise.
Layer 12:
Now grate the other half of the cheese through the fine grater. Shred it right on top of the salad to spread as evenly as possible.
So let's recap the layers:
1. Carrots + mayonnaise
2. Half of the potatoes + mayonnaise
3, 4, 5. Half of the eggs, cheese and chicken + mayonnaise
6. Cooked mushrooms
7. Half of the potatoes + mayonnaise
8, 9. Half of the eggs and the chicken + mayonnaise
10, 11. Prunes and walnuts + mayonnaise
12. Half the cheese
Cover the salad with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 5-10 hours for the flavours to infuse.
After this time, carefully remove the walls, decorate the way you prefer and serve.
You can garnish with greens, walnuts, vegetable slices. I left it simple, the layers are interesting enough and I didn't complicate things.
Enjoy!
