Vinegret (вінегрет, beet vinaigrette salad)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Two medium saucepans
• •A sharp small knife
• •A large mixing bowl
• •A wide serving spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the roots

   Put the beets in one pot and the potatoes and carrots in another, cover with cold salted water, and simmer gently until a knife slips through without forcing. Keep the beet tails on so their color stays inside. The potatoes are ready when they smell earthy and sweet, not watery, and the carrots should bend slightly when lifted with a fork.

2. 2

   Cool and peel

   Drain the vegetables and let them cool until you can hold them comfortably. Slip the beet skins off with your fingers or a small knife, then peel the potatoes and carrots. Don't rush this while they're hot, or the potatoes will crumble under the knife and sulk in the bowl.

   Cook the vegetables the day before if you can. Cold roots dice cleanly, and clean dice are half the pleasure of vinegret.
3. 3

   Dice evenly

   Dice the beets, potatoes, carrots, and cucumbers into small cubes, roughly the size of a bean. This is not fussy work, it's table logic: every spoonful should carry sweet beet, soft potato, sour crunch, and a bean or two. If the pieces are too large, the salad eats like separate leftovers.

4. 4

   Dress the beets

   Put the diced beets in the serving bowl first and toss them with two tablespoons of sunflower oil until glossy. This thin coat slows the beet from staining everything immediately, so the salad stays ruby-speckled instead of one flat pink. If you like the full pink holiday bowl, skip the politeness and toss it all together later.

5. 5

   Fold the salad

   Add the potatoes, carrots, beans, fermented cabbage, cucumbers, onion, most of the dill, the remaining sunflower oil, and a spoonful of brine. Fold with a wide spoon, gently from the bottom, until the colors begin to run but the cubes still hold their shape. Taste for salt, sourness, and oil. It should be bright enough to wake up boiled roots, but not so sour that the beet disappears.

6. 6

   Rest and serve

   Let the vinegret sit at room temperature for twenty minutes, or chill it for later. The beans drink a little oil, the potato takes the brine, and the cabbage softens its sharp elbows. Scatter with the last dill before serving, and bring more sunflower oil to the table for the person who knows what they're doing.

Chef Tips

• •Use unrefined sunflower oil if you can. The smell is nutty, green, and unmistakable; refined oil will dress the salad, but it won't sing.
• •Kvashena kapusta gives better sourness than vinegar because it brings salt, lactic tang, and crunch together. If your sauerkraut is very sharp, rinse it quickly and squeeze it dry.
• •Beans make vinegret more Ukrainian to my table than tinned peas, especially for fasting meals. Peas are a bit more modern and still welcome.
• •The vegetables, beans, and chopping all forgive you. Watery pickles do not. Use sour fermented cucumbers if you can, and drain them well.
• •Vinegret keeps well for three days in the fridge. Add fresh dill and a little more sunflower oil just before serving because cold potatoes drink everything.

Advance Preparation

• •Boil the beets, potatoes, and carrots up to 2 days ahead, then chill them unpeeled for cleaner cutting.
• •The finished salad is better after 1 to 2 hours of resting and can be made a day ahead. Refresh with dill, brine, and sunflower oil before serving.
• •If cooking dried beans, soak them overnight and simmer until creamy inside but still whole.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 205g)