How full of various dishes is the festive table! And a special place on this table is occupied by aspic. Even the simplest jellied one, due to its unusual shape, looks like a true work of art. And if you decorate it correctly, you can turn it into a real culinary masterpiece.
It is necessary
- • Jellied fish, meat, chicken, seafood or any other
- • Chicken or quail eggs
- • Carrot
- • Green peas or corn
- • Olives
- • Capers
- • Fresh cucumber, tomato, bell pepper
- • Fresh greens
- • Pickled mushrooms
- • Pickled gherkins
- • Various molds for jellied
Instructions
Step 1
When preparing to make aspic, decide in advance on its future form and method of serving. A carefully thought-out way of serving aspic will be the key to your success as a skilled hostess. You can make a jellied dish in one large mold, and you can also use the original portion molds.
Step 2
If you are making chicken aspic, try serving it in eggshells. To do this, you need to prepare the required number of eggshells, opened in the manner shown in the figure. The shell must be washed and dried.
Step 3
Place the shells in the egg trays with the holes facing up. Toss the finely diced chicken and carrots with a little green peas and chopped parsley. You can also use diced red bell peppers and corn kernels from a jar as a decoration option. Gently spoon this mixture into the eggshells with a teaspoon. Fill them no more than 3/4 of their volume.
Step 4
Pour jelly on top and place the cells in the refrigerator. When the aspic has solidified well, remove the shell from it and put the “jellied eggs” on a common dish on the green salad leaves.
Step 5
Aspic, prepared in a cake pan, turns out to be very original. If your aspic will be from fish or seafood, lemon, capers, pickled or fresh cucumber, carrots, chopped figuratively, dill and parsley are recommended as decorations.
Step 6
To do this, gently place thin slices of lemon on the bottom of the cake pan, from which you can partially remove the skin with a curly knife. Alternate lemon slices with capers or pitted olive slices, parsley leaves, or dill sprigs. Then pour some jelly on the bottom of the mold and refrigerate to set.
Step 7
Remove the dish from the fridge and place the fish or seafood slices in it. For additional decoration, try to arrange parsley leaves and figuratively chopped carrots along the sides of the mold. Fill in all the remaining jelly. Do this carefully so as not to damage the pattern along the walls of the mold.
Step 8
For additional decoration of aspic, prepared in a cake pan, you can pour white tartar sauce with the addition of gelatin into the hole in the center, sprinkle it with ground pistachios and decorate with a sprig of herbs. Such aspic looks elegant and original.
Step 9
Aspic, prepared in portioned molds of various configurations, looks beautiful. Plus, it's also very practical. Guests do not need to reach for one large dish with aspic and cut a piece from it. It is much more convenient to take an already formed curly piece of aspic on your plate. Such portioned aspic can be made multi-layered, which in itself will be a real decoration.
Step 10
For the top layer of chicken aspic in the shape of hearts, you can use a little jelly with the addition of 25-35% cream to it. Pour a layer of cream on the bottom of the mold and let it harden. Then lay out the chicken pieces and pour over the remaining jelly. When the aspic is ready, dip the bottoms of the forms for 2-3 seconds in hot water and turn over onto the dish in which you will serve the aspic. Top with a slice of tomato and gherkin.
Step 11
If your aspic will be cooked in one large form, then most likely you will not shift it upside down. In this case, you need to decorate the jellied as follows. Place slices or pieces of meat, fish, tongue, or other food on the bottom and cover most of the jelly, leaving some for decoration. Let the jellied cool down a little in the refrigerator. Next, spread slices of eggs, carrots, gherkins, olives or green leaves on the entire surface as your fantasy tells you. Carefully pour the remaining jelly over the decorations and put the aspic in the refrigerator.
