Rosolje

Ingredients

The vegetables

• 600 gbeetroot
• 500 gpotatoes
• waxy rather than floury
• 3carrots
• 4eggs
• hard boiled

The rest

• 300 gsalted herring fillets
• soaked, or matjes herring
• or 300 g cooked beef
• see the note
• 3pickled cucumbers, diced
• 1onion, very finely chopped
• 1apple, diced

The dressing

• 250 mlsour cream
• 3 tablespoonsmayonnaise
• 2 teaspoonsmustard
• 1 tablespoonpickle brine
• 1 teaspoonsugar
• salt and black pepper

To finish

• chopped dill
• extra egg, sliced
• chopped spring onion

Directions

1. Soak it in cold water or milk. Give it several hours at least. Discard it if it smells at all off. Boil the beetroot whole and unpeeled. Leave the skin and root tail on. That stops the colour bleeding out. Trim the leaves but leave a stub. Cooking the beetroot takes a long time.
2. Boil it for about forty minutes. Large beetroot takes far longer. Let the beetroot cool completely. Rub it off under running water. Hot beetroot is impossible to handle.
3. Use a plastic board rather than wood. Boil the potatoes in their skins. Give them about twenty minutes. Boil the carrots until just tender. Give them about fifteen minutes. Drain them and cover them in cold water. Cold water stops the cooking at once.
4. Leave them until entirely cold. Let all the vegetables cool completely. Warm vegetables melt the dressing. Everything must be entirely cold. Peel and then dice the beetroot. Dice it about one centimetre across. Keep every piece to that size. Take your time over the cutting. Dicing the rest is straightforward enough.
5. Peel and dice the potatoes and carrots. Dice the eggs to the same size. Keep one egg back for the top. Slice it for the garnish later. Dice all the rest into the salad. Drain the soaked herring thoroughly. Pat it dry with kitchen paper.
6. Check it for any remaining bones. Dice the herring to the same size. Keep it the same as everything else. Taste a small piece of the herring. It should be pleasantly salty.
7. Soak it longer if it is too salty. Dice the pickled cucumbers finely. Chop the onion very finely indeed. Chop it as fine as you possibly can. Some cooks soak it in cold water first. Drain and dry it thoroughly after. Dice the apple and add it in too.
8. Toss it in lemon juice so it stays pale. Whisk the sour cream and mayonnaise. Add the mustard and the sugar. The dressing should be sharp and creamy. Taste it and adjust before mixing. Whisk in a spoonful of pickle brine. Taste it and season the dressing. Taste before adding any at all. It often needs none whatsoever. Put all the diced things in a bowl. Pour the dressing over all of them.
9. Fold it all together very gently. Do not stir it vigorously at all. Fold until it is just combined. Refrigerate it for several hours. Make it well ahead if you can. Serving it is done genuinely cold. Turn it out into a serving dish. Smooth the top with a spatula. Arrange the sliced egg over it. Scatter chopped dill generously. Use plenty of the chopped dill. It keeps two days refrigerated.

Technique

• Herring is diced small and becomes entirely invisible under the pink dressing, and it tastes fairly mild in there — so say clearly what has gone in, since fish allergy can be severe.
• Salted herring must be soaked before use or it is inedibly salty: several hours at least in cold water or milk, changed two or three times, refrigerated throughout. Taste a piece before it goes in — it should be pleasantly salty rather than overwhelming, and soaking longer fixes it. That check saves the whole salad.
• This is a cold salad with fish and egg, must be refrigerated throughout, keeps about two days and should be discarded if it smells at all off.

Substitutions

• Cooked beef stands in for herring and some households use both together; all three routes are genuinely traditional. Matjes herring is already mildly cured and needs no soaking at all, making it the practical shortcut.
• Soaking the finely chopped onion in cold water for ten minutes mellows it, drained and dried thoroughly after — a genuinely useful step, since raw onion is strong here and coarse onion dominates every bite.

Variations

• Boil the beetroot whole and unpeeled with the root tail and a stub of leaf left on, which stops the colour bleeding out, and rub the skin off under running water once cool. It stains hands and boards badly — use a plastic board, since wood absorbs the colour permanently.
• Use waxy rather than floury potatoes, which hold their shape when diced where floury ones collapse into mush, and boil everything in its skin. Dice everything to about one centimetre so each spoonful gets a bit of each — that evenness is genuinely characteristic and takes real time.
• It looks streaky when first mixed because the beetroot colour has not spread, which is entirely normal — it turns uniformly pink overnight and genuinely tastes better the next day, so make it well ahead.

History

Beetroot, potato and herring salad bound in a pink dressing; the name comes from the Russian word for brine, rassol.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rosolje?

Rosolje is a salad & side from Estonia: rosy beet, herring, and potato salad. Beetroot, potato and herring salad bound in a pink dressing; the name comes from the Russian word for brine, rassol.

How long does Rosolje take to make?

Rosolje takes 40 minutes plus chilling of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 8. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Rosolje?

Yes, within limits. Cooked beef stands in for herring and some households use both together; all three routes are genuinely traditional. Matjes herring is already mildly cured and needs no soaking at all, making it the practical shortcut. Soaking the finely chopped onion in cold water for ten minutes mellows it, drained and dried thoroughly after — a genuinely useful step, since raw onion is strong here and coarse onion dominates every bite.

What is the most important thing to get right in Rosolje?

Use a plastic board rather than wood. Boil the potatoes in their skins. Give them about twenty minutes. Boil the carrots until just tender. Give them about fifteen minutes. Drain them and cover them in cold water. Cold water stops the cooking at once.