who doesn't like cabbage?

This past long weekend, I made 2 different cabbage salads. The recipe below, I made as a side for some baked cornmeal-crusted fish and some oven baked fries. The other cabbage salad, I took to a picnic. I certainly can't pick a favourite since I love pretty much any cabbage salad put in front of me, but since the lemon coleslaw recipe was new to me, it's the one I'll post here.

The recipe as posted is directly from the Gourmet Cookbook. However, in my own kitchen, I made a few alterations, of course. I didn't have any sour cream, so I just skipped it. I also didn't add the sugar because I feel that low fat mayo already has WAY too much sugar for my own liking. I did add a dash of cider vinegar because I do like a zesty slaw but didn't add the extra water. Water? Why? Regardless, it was a really tasty salad and I ate up the leftovers with a buttery english muffin the next day.


lemon coleslaw
(from the Gourmet Cookbook)
2 T low-fat sour cream
2 t low-fat mayonnaise
1/2 t finely grated fresh lemon zest
4 t fresh lemon juice
1 t sugar
3 T water
1/4 t salt
1/8 t black pepper
1 lb green cabbage, thinly sliced (4 cups)
2 carrots, coarsely grated
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced diagonally (1 cup)
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Whisk together sour cream, mayonnaise, zest, lemon juice, sugar, water, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved.

2. Add cabbage, carrots, scallions, and parsley and toss well. Chill, covered, 1 hour to allow flavors to develop. Season with salt and pepper.

a salad fit for a domestic goddess

Summer's can be hot in the Northwest (no, really) and Friday night was no exception. I had a fridge full of fresh vegetables and figured making a salad would be the best option for dinner. I decided making Nigella's Vietnamese Chicken and Mint Salad since I had all the ingredients needed and more.

I had 3 free range chicken thighs in the fridge that needed tending to, so I put the chicken in water along with a few dried chili peppers, kafir lime leaves and a few dashes of fish sauce and set the whole lot to simmer. Once the chicken was cooked, i left them to cool in the fridge and I put the cooking liquid away in the freezer for another day.

I started by chopping up ½ a small green cabbage and ½ of a small purple cabbage into fine shreds and threw it into a large bowl. Next, I grated 2 large carrots and threw that on top of the cabbage. The green onions, ½ of a red and ½ of a green pepper were next and I chopped those up too. I rolled up a large handful of mint leaves into a cigar shape and cut that into a lovely chiffonade (!!) and tore off some Italian parsley off of their stems and threw them in too. The final step was shredding up my chicken thighs and then with my clean hands, I mixed everything all up and started on the dressing.

I followed the dressing pretty faithfully to Nigella's recipe, but I subsitituted the rice vinegar for some red wine vinegar since it was all that I had.

1 fat garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 tbsp sugar
1 ½ tsp rice vinegar
1 ½ tbsp lime juice
1 ½ tbsp Vietnamese or Thai fish sauce (nuoc nam or nam pla)
1 ½ tbsp vegetable oil

Once it was shaken up, I added it to the salad and me and Cornelius dug in. The next day I ate the some leftovers with some crushed peanuts on top for added crunch. Tasty!

poor girl

Returning from a month long holiday and paying for a wedding can really drain a girl's finances (as well as the finances of her newly betrothed). There isn't really much in our pockets for frivolous items and sadly, exciting (and usually expensive) treats from the market are also forbidden. I've been trying to be thrifty like my mother and make use of the food that already exists in our cupboards and refridgerator shelves. So far, i've been pretty successful.

The other day, one of my frugal successes came in the form of a variaton on a waldorf salad. I will try to recount the proportions accurately, but as I just winged it, it might be best to taste it as you go along. I really liked the addition of cinnamon as it gave more depth to the flavour.

My Waldorf Salad
1 granny smith apple, chopped
1 small head of green cabbage, chopped coleslaw style
1 small onion, diced fine
2 carrots, grated
1 small green pepper, diced
a handful of raisins
a handful of chopped walnuts

For the dressing, combine 1/4 cup of mayonaise with 1/2 cup of plain yogurt. Add a heaping tablespoon of sugar, juice of 1 lemon and a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and blend until combined. Taste! If it doesn't taste like you think it should, add more sweetener or more lemon juice (or vinegar) til you get it right. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix until throughly combined.

oh, i love cabbage!

As a teenager, I rebelled against this large round, leafy veg. It was boiled til it was soft and it left the house with an undeniable reek. Ewww.

Somehow the cabbage I knew as a teen isn't the same beast I have come to love and depend on for many a meal. Raw is usually how I love it and in a salad it can't be beat.

Tonight our apartment was sweltering with the start of summer heat and I will pass along my cabbage salad "recipe". I find i can throw in what I've got around the house and it will be delicious. If I have left over chicken or if I've got some bbq pork from chinatown, i'll throw it in. Tonight, it was a fully vegan affair using whatever random ingredients I had on hand.

kitchen sink cabbage salad
Chop a head of cabbage, coleslaw-style and throw into a large salad bowl (green/red or a combo is just fine). Add grated carrots (I used 2) and some finely chopped red onion (1/2 onion) and green pepper (1 pepper). Throw in some chopped granny smith apple (I used 2), raisins, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and honey-roasted peanuts. Toss well. For the dressing, i finely chopped some ginger & garlic and added some olive oil, soy sauce, juice of 1 lemon, hot sauce and some white wine. Once mixed into a lovely viscous liquid, I tossed the dressing with the salad and it was ready to serve.

Cornelius, my dinner guest Pam and myself devoured it. Crunchy, healthy and tasty!