Mimoza – Layered Tuna Salad – Салат “Мимоза”

Easter was a big event back in the Soviet Union. People took their spring cleaning very seriously. You would watch your whole street cleaning up their houses, washing windows, sweeping porches, cleaning their yards, painting fences, etc.

The holiday meal was taken seriously too. Partly because there wasn’t an abundance of available ingredients or money and holidays gave people an excuse to splurge and create and enjoy some masterpieces. Baking all sorts of baked goodies was a must, and at Easter time, yeast breads were always the specialty. For more ideas for your Easter menu, you can look here.

Fancy salads would decorate the table as well. Mimoza became popular in the 90s. The name doesn’t refer to the alcoholic beverage with a similar name (mimosa), but to a gorgeously budding tree.

The layered salad is a pretty presentation of common pantry ingredients. If you don’ t like tuna, you can use salmon or even chicken instead. The tender, dainty texture complements the charming presentation.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter. It’s such a victorious, joyful time of year. A celebration of life, of hope and the beautiful story of redemption.

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

• 3 medium gold potatoes
• 4-5 carrots
• salt
• 6-8 eggs, hard-boiled
• 2 cans (5 oz each) tuna
• ½ cup Mozzarella cheese, finely grated
• 1¾ - 2 cups mayonnaise

Instructions

Place the carrots and potatoes in a pot, cover with water so that it barely covers the vegetables. Season with salt.
Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 25-35 minutes, just until the vegetables can be easily pierced with a fork. Drain the water from the vegetables and cool them.When they are cool enough to handle, peel them. It's really easy to do with a butter knife or a paring knife.
Hard boil the eggs. I have a post all about hard-boiling eggs; you can read all about it there.
Peel the eggs and cut them in half to separate the egg whites from the egg yolks.
Drain the tuna and mash it with a fork. Mix the tuna with about ¼ cup of mayonnaise.You can also use canned salmon or even chicken instead of the tuna; the choice is up to you.
To assemble the salad, you can do it many different ways.You can assemble it in a 8x8 inch glass baking pan, or on a plate.You can create the layers free hand, or use a plate with sloped edges and create the layers by spreading the ingredients within the plate edges. I usually use a plate and assemble the salad one layer at a time, and make 2 smaller salads, about 6 inches in diameter each.
Spread half of the tuna on each plate into a circle.
Using a box grater, finely grate about one and a half potatoes over the tuna on each salad. I like to use the the really small holes on a box grater (not the smallest, though), but you can use the large ones, if you like.
Place the mayo in a ziptop bag and snip off a tiny hole in one of the corners. Drizzle about ¼ cup of mayo over the potatoes on each salad.You can drizzle it on as thick or thin as you like.
Spread the finely grated cheese on top of the potatoes. You might need less than ¼ cup of cheese on each salad, you need just enough to cover the potatoes in a thin layer.
Grate 2-2½ carrots over the cheese on each salad, on the finest grater also. Drizzle with the same amount of mayonnaise.
For the last layer, finely grate the egg whites (3-4) only and drizzle with the same amount of mayo. This time, spread out the mayo with a spoon evenly on top of the egg whites.
Mash up the egg yolks with a fork in a small bowl, or press them through a fine mesh sieve. Sprinkle on top of the salad. I garnished the salad with some simple flowers that I cut out from cooked carrots.
Keep the salad refrigerated.

Source:

http://www.olgasflavorfactory.com/appetizers/mimoza-layered-tuna-salad/