Slaw

We had a run on cabbage. Ordered a big head a week ago and then ended up with another big head. What to do? Coleslaw is long a favorite at our house as well as cabbage soups but I wasn't in the mood to do stuffed cabbage, which I actually prefer to do with mangold greens (or collards in the US) - more digestible and easier to work with.

Our standard coleslaw has a vinegar based dressing, with a bit of fresh cilantro, scallions and jalapeno pepper to snazz it up and give it zip not generally known to the standard, heavier mayonaise coleslaws, which quite frankly hold no appeal to me. I want a salad with a fresh appeal, that will age nicely in the fridge, softening over the week as the acids continue to do their work making it continually appealing to eat when you peruse the shelves.

Plus, aging coleslaw is great with tuna for a quick and zesty tuna salad. Just chop the slaw down a bit and mix with tuna and add a squeeze of lemon and perhaps another drizzle of oil and it's light and refreshing and again, not weighed down by mayo.

Coleslaw:
1 medium head of white cabbage, shredded. (If you're not one to shred, then slice the cabbage in half, through the stem edge (meaning top to bottom), slice thinly and then slice across to get small enough pieces).
1 small head of purple cabbage, shredded (not critical but the colors are nice).
1 lb/.5 kilo of carrots shredded or julienned or thinly sliced.
3-4 scallions, sliced, with the green
1/2 bunch of cilantro chopped
1/2 bunch of parsley chopped
1-2 jalapeno peppers or some equivalent fresh, hot pepper, seeded and chopped (use the seeds if you want it spicier).

Combine the vegetables. Whisk the lemon juice with the salt and pepper and cumin. Add in the oil, vinegar, apple juice, maple syrup and adjust the flavors to taste.
Let it sit at least 1 hour before serving, if you can.

Dressing:
Olive or Grapeseed oil - 1/4-1/3 of a cup.
Lemon juice - 1/8 of a cup
Splash of apple cider or rice vinegar
Salt and Pepper
Cumin - 1/2 -1 tsp according to taste
Salt and Pepper
Apple juice - 1/8 of a cup (give or take)
Dash of maple syrup (really gives it a great taste but honey could work as well or leave it out)

Cabbage Note:
If you really hate raw cabbage, you could dump the cabbage and carrots into a colander and pour boiling water over them to just reduce the 'rawness' of the salad to start. As well, you could salt the cabbage and put a weight on top (meaning stick a plate on the cabbage and a couple of cans of beans) for about 30 minutes and then rinse your cabbage and continue with the dressing. You can also make it raw and it will develop nicely on it's own over time.

If I still have cabbage left over, we can talk about soup later in the week.