Mishanyna (мішанина, Galician Easter salad)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Medium saucepan for the beets
• •Small saucepan for the eggs
• •Box grater or fine grater for horseradish
• •Large shallow mixing bowl
• •Sharp knife

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the beets

   Put the beets in a saucepan, cover with cold water, and simmer gently until a knife slides through without a fight. Keep the tails on. They hold the color inside, so the beet stays deep ruby instead of bleeding itself pale into the pot. Cool until you can handle them, then slip off the skins.

2. 2

   Boil the eggs

   Cook the eggs until the yolks are set but still golden, then drop them into cold water and peel. Chalky yolks make a dry salad, and this dish already has enough sharpness from the khrin, horseradish, to carry it.

3. 3

   Make the tsvikli

   Grate the cooked beets coarsely into a large bowl. Grate the fresh horseradish finely, standing back because it bites the nose, then stir it into the beets with the vinegar or beet zakwas, sunflower oil, salt, pepper, and the sugar if the beets need rounding. This beet and horseradish mixture is close to tsvikli, the Galician relish that wakes up Easter meat.

4. 4

   Chop the basket

   Cut the kovbasa, and the baked pork or ham if using, into small even pieces. Chop the eggs a little larger so they don't disappear. The bowl should taste like the Easter basket, not like one ingredient shouting over the others.

5. 5

   Fold it together

   Fold the kovbasa and pork through the beet and horseradish first, then add the eggs last with a loose hand. You want crimson streaks, yellow yolk, white egg, and smoky meat still visible, not a mashed pink paste. Let it sit just long enough for the beet juice to stain the edges and for the horseradish to climb into everything.

   Mix mishanyna after church, or just before the meal, not the night before. The egg should still look like egg, and the horseradish should still have its bite.
6. 6

   Serve the bowl

   Taste once more for salt, sourness, and heat. Add more horseradish if the bowl has gone sleepy, more vinegar or zakwas if it tastes too sweet, and dill if you want that green spring snap. Serve with paska and the rest of the Easter table. Enough for eight guests or one hungry Ukrainian.

Chef Tips

• •If you already have jarred tsvikli, beet and horseradish relish, use 5 or 6 tablespoons instead of the grated beet, horseradish, and vinegar mixture. Taste before adding salt, because jars vary.
• •Prepared horseradish works when fresh root is impossible. Drain it well and add it boldly, because its bite is softer than the fresh thing.
• •Do not use raw sausage here unless you cook it fully first. Mishanyna is made from the blessed ready-to-eat foods in the Easter basket: kovbasa, egg, beet, and whatever cooked pork your family sets out.
• •Some Galician families add shynka, boiled pork, farmer's cheese, a spoon of smetana, or even mayonnaise in newer versions. Keep the beet and horseradish backbone, then let your table breathe.

Advance Preparation

• •Cook the beets and eggs a day or two ahead, then chill them unpeeled. They cut more cleanly when cold.
• •Grate fresh horseradish close to serving. Its fire fades as it sits, and Easter morning deserves the sharp edge.
• •Do not fully mix the salad the night before. Keep the chopped meat, eggs, and beet-horseradish separate, then fold them together after church or just before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 175g)