What's your everyday salad?

[maggiethecat]

It's Amish Coleslaw, from Marcia Adams's "Cooking from Quilt Country." The usual suspects are there -- cabbage, onions, carrots, etc. But what blows it out of the park is the subversive thing: use as much sugar as you do mayo.

I sent a rack of amazing ribs and a dish of this slaw to my neighbors because, well, I live in the Midwest and that's what we do. They loved the ribs but almost came to blows (no kidding) over the coleslaw. They demanded the recipe

I like cabbage salads and I have a big sneaker for Asian slaws. But for me this is the perfect 365 salad: for months in the winter there are few interesting greens around (except Romaine) and in the summer slaw goes with everything.

[project]

Caesar salad

but willing to back down to just Romaine lettuce with mustard

vinaigrette.

But willing to add some of:

cold, cooked meat -- chicken, tuna, pepperoni

hard cooked eggs

artichoke hearts marinated in vinaigrette

hearts of palm

chickpeas

tomato

chunks of blue cheese

[pickledgarlic]

For some reason I eat a lot of a simple red cabbage salad. Probably 3-4 times a week. Sure, sure there aren't any greens but hey, from what I can read red cabbage is pretty good for you. Red cabbage is cheap and lasts a long time before going snarky. Those two facts are key if you are currently writing a master's thesis and your eating habbits are going to crap.

Look for smaller red cabbages, fresher the better. Don't buy cabbages cut in half unless they have been cut in half recently. I have no way of determining fresh from unfresh until they are cut open at home. A 'fresh' one has a consistent 'white' of the cabbage from core to edge.. a less-fresh (but still fine, just not as good) has the 'white' near the edge of the cabbage turned a grey-white color. If it's shallow I just peel down to that level.

Smallish red cabbage will give you ~6-8 servings... below for 4 person salad:

1/2 smallish red cabbage shredded as thinly as possible (good knife skills, or go for a mandolin.. long fine strands is what you want)

1/4 (or to taste) red onion (or a large-ish shallot) sliced into thin half moons

Mix together... toss in half a lemon's worth of lemon juice, and a splash of sherry vinegar (_must_ be sherry vinegar, I've experimented!), good pinch of salt, at least 1 teaspoon sugar, and then 50/50 walnut oil/olive oil to whatever you think is necessary --use a little at first, taste, etc. Add a few good grinds of black pepper. Mix. It can take a beating and I've found no taste/texture difference into making the dressing up prior. I've got it down pat by eye now and never measure, so just muck with the above until you find something that tastes good. Trust me when I say there is a sweet spot that takes time to find between "good" and "daaaaamn"

Some notes:

The finer you get the cabbage, the better it tastes. Try to avoid the "core" of the cabbage --a knob near the base that is pure white.

the lemon juice / sherry vinegar is the best combo. I've dried pretty much every vinegar and combo of vinegar on this thing over the years it is what I prefer. As for the oil.. pure olive oil does something odd to it, it's best to cut it with another oil, preferably a nut oil, though anything honestly works --I just prefer walnut.

I don't know what it is.. it has this satisfying crunch, but is light (unlike a 'slaw). Durable and cheap. My dad made it all the time as I was a kid and I revived it later in life. I've never seen it anywhere until I picked up a copy of peterson's Cooking a few weeks ago and lo-and-behold something similar is in there (with pistachios, I think).

Stains like a bastard though.

-pg

p.s. screw grammar. I'm lazy and I've been making figures and tables all day.