Fish aspic is an excellent appetizer for any holiday table. There are many options for preparing this dish. The aspic can be prepared with or without gelatin. But the highlight itself lies in the design of the aspic. A beautifully decorated fish dish will perfectly complement the festive table.
I would like to suggest you prepare fish aspic with gelatin. For the dish we will take pike perch. And we will need these ingredients: 0.6 kg of pike perch, tails and heads of any fish about one kilogram, one medium onion, one medium-sized carrot, five to seven peas of allspice, five bay leaves, one glass of dry white wine, salt to taste, one pack of gelatin.
to decorate the aspic: fresh dill or parsley, two eggs, one medium lemon, several fresh cranberries.
1. Clean fresh fish. Remove the entrails and gills. We cut off the fins. Cut off the head and tail. We wash and dry the fish. Along the ridge we cut the pike perch into two parts, cutting off the ribs at the place where they are attached to the ridge. You will get two fish fillets. Carefully remove the remaining bones and ribs from the fillet.
Lubricate the food foil well with vegetable oil. Take the fish fillet and place it skin side down on the foil. Add pepper and salt and then wrap tightly in foil. Preheat the oven to one hundred degrees. Bake the pike perch in the oven for one hour. The finished pike perch will be tender and very tasty. In addition, it will not lose its shape. Cool the fish and put it in the refrigerator for five hours directly in foil. The fillet will become dense and easy to cut.
2. Now we begin to prepare the fish broth. Place the bones, fins, tail and head from the pike perch in a pan along with other fish tails and heads. Rinse thoroughly. Fill with water, add allspice, bay leaf, carrots, and whole onion. Set to cook over medium heat. After boiling, cook the broth for twenty minutes. Then add one glass of dry white wine.
Remove carrots and onions from the broth. Cook for another fifteen minutes over low heat. We will need carrots for decoration. Add salt to taste. Remove heads, bones, tails and fins from the broth. Strain the broth itself through cheesecloth folded in three layers or a very fine sieve. To prepare jellied fish we need one liter of broth. Cool the broth and place it in the refrigerator for three hours. During this time, all suspensions will settle to the bottom.
3. Drain the cooled broth, leaving sediment at the bottom. Pour gelatin into the broth as indicated in the instructions. When it swells, heat it, but do not bring it to a boil. Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Now add the remaining broth to it and mix. Pour some broth with gelatin into a wide, deep dish and put it in the refrigerator for two hours. Cut the pike perch fillet into slices and place it on the frozen broth, skin side up.
4. Boil hard-boiled eggs for ten minutes. Cool, peel and cut into slices. Place in the middle on the fish fillet.
5. Wash the parsley, dry it and tear off the leaves. Place a leaf on each fish fillet. We cut the carrots into half circles and also place them on the fillet along with cranberries and thin lemon half rings. Pour in the rest of the fish broth. Place in the refrigerator to allow the fish dish to completely harden.
6. Take the fish aspic, the recipe for which I offered you, from the refrigerator and serve. I wish everyone a bon appetit!
Decoration products
Decorating aspic dishes is an incredibly exciting activity, despite the fact that all this cooking takes quite a lot of time. But how nice it is to receive compliments from guests for your efforts in the kitchen. Therefore, we arm ourselves with ideas, and, most importantly, the necessary products, and begin to sculpt beauty.
For fish aspic, beautifully decorated slices of lemon and lime would be an excellent option for garnishing. The contrast of yellow and green always looks impressive, and in the company of gifts from the seas and oceans, this citrus tandem will become irresistible.
Seafood looks very beautiful in fish jellied fish: baby octopuses, shrimp, shining eggs. But diluting the marine fauna with terrestrial flora is also not prohibited, but on the contrary, it is encouraged.
You can safely add capers and gherkins to the aspic; the overall appearance of the dish will only benefit from this.
A riot of colors and brightness of color will bring colorful vegetables to a gelatinous appetizer, either fish or meat. Boiled carrots, for example, are the most favorite decorative material for all housewives.
However, from onions and green onions, colored bell peppers, yellow, black and red tomatoes, cucumbers and various greens, you can create truly incredible pictures from ordinary patterns and colors to complex landscape compositions.
Green peas with sunny corn, variegated beans, olives, pomegranate seeds and cranberries, which also play an important aesthetic role in all this splendor, will immediately come to the rescue.
Natural motifs under a layer of transparent meat or fish jelly also delight the eyes of eaters. Mushrooms and basil leaves can create a real autumn painting on the table.
Well, how can we do without boiled eggs, this product can easily be considered the main artistic element. Making lilies, chrysanthemums and daisies, swans and other beautiful figures from pliable protein is as easy as shelling pears, but this design of the signature New Year's snack dish will look simply stunning on the table.
Technology for decorating jellied dishes
Well, if we have figured out the selection of products for decoration, now it’s time to discuss all the subtleties and secrets of beautiful presentation of jelly.
Transparency
Firstly, the main advantage of a beautiful aspic lies in the transparency of the broth. If the broth is crystal clear, then any, even the simplest decoration of the dish will look amazing.
Cloudy jelly, on the contrary, threatens to spoil even the most meticulously and artistically ideally compiled “herbarium”.
Dishes for aspic
Secondly, you should decide in advance which type of serving of the gelatinous snack is preferable for you. For example, at an official reception, portioned aspics served in separate glasses or bowls are very effective.
With your family or close circle, you can limit yourself to a shared dish. This is what determines what design you should choose for the appetizer.
One large aspic
Making one large jellied meat does not imply its subsequent removal from the mold and is served, as a rule, in a large container. There are incredibly many decoration options for this type of aspic.
You can simply place the meat on the bottom of the plate, pour a small amount of broth over it and leave to cool in the cold. After that, on top of the frozen jelly, we steal any combination of vegetables, eggs or herbs you like, and then carefully pour in the rest of the broth.
These options can be considered classic. But how can you decorate the aspic in a more original way?
Making a chicken fillet cake with vegetables
This is a great recipe for a large family like mine. Yes, in general, I think that many people prepare this dish for the New Year using basins). Therefore, I suggest that you immediately take not chicken drumsticks or pulp, but cook the entire chicken carcass.
Moreover, I want to note that it is best to use domestic chicken. By the way, if you like dishes made from this type of meat, then you can cook it with a crispy crust in the oven. How do you like this idea for a celebration?
We will need:
- chicken - 1 pc.
- water - 3-4 l.
- celery - 2 stalks
- carrots - 2 pcs.
- onion - 1 pc.
- peppercorns, salt, bay leaf to taste
- quail eggs - 5 pcs.
- pickled cucumbers - 2-3 pcs.
- greenery
- gelatin - 4-5 slices
Cooking method:
1. So, first, wash the chicken under running water, and then place it in a large saucepan or multicooker bowl and boil it until tender. To make the broth transparent, we will do one trick. After the meat boils, foam will appear; there is no need to remove it. You will need to drain the first broth altogether, especially if you have store-bought chicken.
Fill the chicken again with clean water and add all the vegetables, carrots, celery, onions, bay leaves and 5 peppercorns, be sure to add salt at your discretion. Cook until done over low heat for 1-1.5 hours, the time will depend on the size of the bird.
After the chicken meat is ready, you can see the readiness of the meat as follows: pierce it with a knife and if no blood comes out, then everything is ready.
Next, remove the chicken meat from the pan along with the vegetables and cool, strain the broth through a strainer, remove the fat from above, it will not be needed.
2. Soak the gelatin in the slabs for 2-4 minutes, read the instructions on the package for how much water one slab is designed for, you can buy non-sheet gelatin, above I wrote you the proportions of how much you need to take per 1 liter.
3. After the gelatin swells, drain the water and add it to the rich hot broth, stir thoroughly until it completely dissolves.
4. Next, for the aspic, prepare all the other ingredients according to the list. Boil quail eggs until hard. Rinse the parsley well.
5. Take cups, these can be any of your favorite containers or baking molds with embossed edges. Place egg halves on the bottom of each bowl, sprinkle with herbs and arrange the cucumbers, cutting them into circles or strips. Gut the meat into fibers and cut with a knife.
6. This is what it looks like, fill everything with broth.
7. Place all containers and molds in the refrigerator overnight or for several hours until ready, and then you can turn them over and see such a miracle. Serve on plates for your health.
Design of jellied tongue “swans in a pond”
In this case, we will decorate the jellied meat after it has hardened. Therefore, having laid out carefully cut slices of boiled tongue at the bottom of the container, fill everything with broth with gelatin and set it to harden. Well, after 4 hours you can begin to directly decorate the dish.
Ingredients
- Boiled eggs - 4 pcs.;
- Onion head - 1 small piece;
- Boiled carrots - 1 pc.;
- Black peppercorns - 4 pcs.;
- Dill and parsley - 1 bunch;
- Basil - 4 leaves;
- Garlic arrows or wild garlic – 10 pcs.
- Dough – 50-100 g;
- Ground coffee – 2-3 tsp;
Reeds
We make reeds. We stick pieces of dough onto the ends of 6 garlic arrows, no more than 10 cm long, and then roll them in coffee until the dough turns brown and looks like reeds.
Lilies
Now let's make lilies. Cut the onion head in half crosswise and cut out corners from each half, making a flower.
After this, we rotate the onion layers around an axis, giving the product the shape of a lily. And in the center of this beauty we place thin and short carrot sticks - the stamens of the lily.
Swans
Well, the next stage we will have swans. Cut off the white of 2 boiled eggs a little on one side for stability. We cut out the tail from the cut, and cut off the barrels of the other two eggs - these will be the wings of the swans.
Next, insert the resulting parts into the cuts on the side of the wide part of the egg (tail) and on the sides (wings). We also cut out the neck and head for each bird.
After this, we attach the part to the “body” with toothpicks. We make paws and beak from boiled carrots, and eyes from black peppercorns.
Assembling the composition
Now you can assemble a landscape composition. On one side of the dish with jellied tongue, place chopped dill and parsley as herbs.
We stick the reeds and the remaining garlic arrows there. We place swans nearby, and onion lilies with basil leaves a little further away.
And here is the result.
Grapes in pink champagne
Photo @ Venera Osepchuk
Ingredients for 3 servings:
- grapes - 3 bunches;
- pink champagne - 300 ml;
- sheet gelatin - 5 pcs.
Soak leaf gelatin for 10 minutes in cold water. Pour 100 ml of pink champagne into a bowl and heat for 30 seconds. into the microwave oven (at full power).
Place soaked gelatin (squeezed out of water) into a bowl of hot champagne and stir until it is completely dissolved, and cool at the same time. If foam has formed on top, remove it with a spoon. Now mix the gelatin mixture with the rest of the champagne (200 ml), and if foam forms again, remove it with a spoon.
Tatyana Vasilyeva posted a bold post on Instagram
Place bunches of grapes in molds (tea glasses, cups) and fill with jelly champagne. Place the molds in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
Before serving, dip the molds for 2 seconds. into hot water and, gently pulling the tail of the grape, easily remove the jelly. Serve jelly grapes with any soft cheeses, poultry pate tartlets and champagne.
"Peacock" decoration
There is another equally effective, but easier to implement option, how to make a jellied tongue using “egg birds”. In this case, the painting from aspic can be called “Peacocks”. For decoration you only need a couple of eggs, a few pitted olives and green onions.
- It is necessary to arrange slices of boiled tongue at the bottom of the dish in the shape of a peacock's tail, after which we place circles of chopped olives on top of each of them.
- Next, beautifully arrange the green onions between the meat pieces. The greens should be positioned so that the sharp tips point upward.
- Well, at the base of the entire structure we lay out three bird figures cut from egg white sides. We form the nose from boiled carrots, the eyes from pieces of olive.
- We decorate the bottom of the dish with curly parsley and then very carefully pour the broth mixed with gelatin over everything. After hardening, this treat will become the main decoration of the table.
Decoration process
Now you know how to process products to make aspic. How to decorate it yourself? To do this, you need to peel the beef tongue from the casing and then cut it into thin slices. Next, you need to place the products on a not very high dish. Moreover, it should be placed in a checkerboard pattern. This is necessary to leave room for decoration. Next, you need to place halves of quail eggs, boiled carrot slices, and fresh parsley petals into the formed voids. In addition, it is recommended to make separate piles of chopped green onions and peppercorns.
Finally, all ingredients should be carefully poured into the jelly-forming meat broth. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the laid out components remain at the bottom of the dish and do not float up.
Fish aspic
Recently, to make beautiful jellied meat, smart housewives have adapted silicone molds for cupcakes and jelly for this task. And it is worth noting that a dish prepared using such forms looks simply incomparable.
However, special containers made of silicone or ceramics are now produced for jellied meat. Decorating fish aspic today is not a difficult task if you have such a special form in the house. But how can you add a special charm to a dish?
For example, you can cook colored jelly fish with plenty of vegetables and a lemon scallop.
- To do this, place thin slices of lemon and green olives on the bottom of the mold.
- After this, we separately grind the fish fillet, red, yellow and green bell peppers, a little tomato and pickled cucumber, and then mix it all with gelatinous fish broth and pour it into the mold.
After hardening, we will have a magical and tasty jellied fish.
If there is no form
However, if you don’t have such a lifesaver at home as an original mold, then you can simply place neatly chopped fish slices on the bottom of a transparent container and pour a small layer of broth over them.
After hardening, we lay out greens, pepper circles or peeled and boiled shrimp, octopuses along the walls of the container, in general, we create beauty at our own request, and then fill everything with the rest of the broth.
Fish aspic looks very beautiful in portioned containers, such as glasses, ice cream makers, wine glasses, glasses. And most importantly, it’s practical, because guests won’t have to feel the awkwardness of reaching across the entire table in the hope of getting their share of the goodies.
Making a chicken fillet cake with vegetables
This is a great recipe for a large family like mine. Yes, in general, I think that many people prepare this dish for the New Year using basins). Therefore, I suggest that you immediately take not chicken drumsticks or pulp, but cook the entire chicken carcass.
Moreover, I want to note that it is best to use domestic chicken. By the way, if you like dishes made from this type of meat, then you can cook it with a crispy crust in the oven. How do you like this idea for a celebration?
We will need:
- chicken - 1 pc.
- water - 3-4 l.
- celery - 2 stalks
- carrots - 2 pcs.
- onion - 1 pc.
- peppercorns, salt, bay leaf to taste
- quail eggs - 5 pcs.
- pickled cucumbers - 2-3 pcs.
- greenery
- gelatin - 4-5 slices
Cooking method:
1. So, first, wash the chicken under running water, and then place it in a large saucepan or multicooker bowl and boil it until tender. To make the broth transparent, we will do one trick. After the meat boils, foam will appear; there is no need to remove it. You will need to drain the first broth altogether, especially if you have store-bought chicken.
Fill the chicken again with clean water and add all the vegetables, carrots, celery, onions, bay leaves and 5 peppercorns, be sure to add salt at your discretion. Cook until done over low heat for 1-1.5 hours, the time will depend on the size of the bird.
After the chicken meat is ready, you can see the readiness of the meat as follows: pierce it with a knife and if no blood comes out, then everything is ready.
Next, remove the chicken meat from the pan along with the vegetables and cool, strain the broth through a strainer, remove the fat from above, it will not be needed.
Pig from a bottle
In addition to silicone and ceramic fish, you can often see quite funny and cute piglets on sale. In such molds, the decoration of jellied meat will become truly masterpiece.
But even in the absence of a formal kitchen assistant, a pig can be made from such handy tools as an ordinary plastic bottle.
For example, if you pour gelatin broth with chopped meat and pre-designed vegetable decorations into a bottle, and after the jellied meat has hardened, carefully cut the plastic and take the snack out into the light, then using simple manipulations you can make a cute little pig.
All we have to do is decorate the meat aspic by cutting out ears and a snout from boiled carrots, making eyes from olives or peas, and a tail-hook from sausage. Original, beautiful and simple.
How to serve jellied meat beautifully
Products
Mechanically or out of ignorance, many housewives often call aspic jellied meat. But in fact, these are not so different dishes. The only difference is that jellied meat is chopped meat , filled with broth that has thickened to a jelly-like state. It is also called jelly.
But aspic is an improved version of jellied meat, in which gelatin is used for purity and a lighter shade of the broth. Jellied is prepared from poultry , fish, seafood, vegetables and other products. Homemade jellied meat sometimes closely resembles aspic in appearance.
Faberge eggs
To make this snack, you will need a few raw eggs, the tops of which need to be removed. The ingredients of the aspic should pass through this hole : peas, cubes of chicken, carrots and red pepper. Don't forget to rinse the eggs with boiling water first.
Jellied meat in glasses and shot glasses
This is a very elegant and elegant appetizer . If the aspic can be served directly in wine or martini glasses, then it is better to remove the dish from the glass. Serve the latter on a wide wooden dish or in portions, garnished with pickles.
Flowers on the lake
Decorations made from thin slices of fresh vegetables are an excellent option for aspic. The neutral taste of the frozen broth goes well with crunchy foods. Try forming carrot flowers by adding parsley leaves to them. Egg figurines can also serve as a decorative element .
Forms for jellied meat
Firstly, both aspic and jellied meat can be placed in ordinary salad bowls to freeze. They come in rectangular, round and other various shapes. By turning the aspic upside down on a plate, you will get a beautiful pattern .
In addition, instead of a special mold, you can use silicone ones for baking cupcakes. And - as an option - plastic disposable tableware will also work.
Jellied with seafood
What if you replace standard pork and chicken with shrimp and salmon? Of course, this aspic is more suitable for a holiday, but its taste will not be inferior to any culinary masterpieces. We recommend serving this appetizer in a glass bowl for added effect.
Special forms for jelly
You will be surprised, but over many years of popularity of this dish, manufacturers have learned to make a variety of forms. For example, fish, Christmas tree and other popular images. But you can make a piglet yourself from an ordinary plastic bottle .
But in fact, to prepare a beautiful aspic or jellied meat, you don’t need any special forms . We take containers for cupcakes or other shaped baked goods and prepare them. With this approach, even traditional chicken jellied meat can be transformed. What do you think of our ideas? Prepare and share the results!
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Jellied on the festive table "Faberge"
Despite the fact that the Easter holidays have already passed, this design of chicken aspic never loses its originality. How could it be otherwise, because it’s not often that you come across such beauty and deliciousness on the table.
To bring this wonderful snack to life, we will need several eggshells with a hole on the side of the wide base. The inside of the container should be thoroughly rinsed and the white film removed.
After this, in order to decorate our masterpiece and give it freshness, we fill the shells with finely chopped vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, carrots, corn, herbs) and 2/3 chicken meat. And then pour chicken broth with gelatin diluted in it.
After hardening in the refrigerator, all we have to do is peel off the shells from the jellied “eggs” and place them on a dish.
Preparing jellied meat is undoubtedly not an easy task. However, even at the finish line of this entire kitchen, an equally important stage awaits us - decoration. Many housewives do not know how to decorate aspic in an original way, but we hope that our tips will help solve this problem.
- Author: Maria Sukhorukikh
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Cooking secrets and tricks
Tips from experienced cooks and chefs will help you make your dish even more delicious and appetizing:
- To make it easier to remove mucus from the fish, scald the carcass twice with boiling water and then wash it with the back of a kitchen sponge.
- If the soup becomes cloudy, add a beaten chicken egg into it and then strain.
- For added piquancy, add a handful of raisins to the broth before finishing cooking.
- Wine can be replaced with lemon juice (from ½ piece).
