A Lovely Asian Slaw

So many slaws! I already went on and on about this last week, so I will spare you the rant. Today I wanted to do creamy sesame noodles with crab cakes and needed something bright, colorful, acidic, and vegetable-forward to round out the lunch menu. This salad was the perfect choice. It would also be a great match for a marinated and grilled flank steak, teriyaki type chicken, or piece of miso marinated fish. So much versatility!

Before you start cooking though, I’m going to shamelessly plug for a tool that I think most cooks can afford and is indispensable if you love and work with vegetables regularly. It is the Benriner Mandoline Slicer and once you get into a routine of using it, you will never look back. It has three blades, two of which do more fancy shreddy type things. The flat blade is perfect for 99% of my needs. Think perfect potato slices for gratins, thinly shaved veggies for gorgeous salads, fine shredding for slaws, identically sized apple slices for tarts...you get the picture. It’s available for under $40 on Amazon and I tell everyone I know who loves cooking to get one.

One final note-every vegetable in this beautiful salad was available at the farm market today, so hooray for the farmers! Now, cook!

Asian Inspired Slaw

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of Green Cabbage, sliced very thinly (use a mandoline if you have one)

1 1/2 cups of Purple Cabbage cut the same way as the green

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion (mandoline) soaked in 2-3 tablespoons of rice vinegar for about 10 minutes

1/2 cup of thinly sliced red pepper (mandoline)

1/2 cup of shredded carrot (either use mandoline to get super thin slices and then cut into fine shreds with a knife, or use the coarse holes on a grater)

1/2 cup of shredded radish (approach the same as carrot)

1/2 cup minced cilantro

2 tablespoons minced chives

Juice and zest of 2 limes

2 tablespoons dark toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons of peanut oil

1 tablespoon of honey

Sriracha and salt to taste

Method

Toss everything together and stick in the fridge to chill for at least 15 minutes. Taste for seasoning.

Broccoli Slaw

One of the curses AND gifts of being a private chef is that you have the freedom to make different foods everyday and to experiment with new recipes or ideas that intrigue you. I have made so many different types of slaws over the years-a few from glossy photos in magazines, some from those old timey church lady cookbooks, Instagram-inspired slaws (of late), and occasionally you make a slaw out of whatever it is that you can find in the vegetable bin at that particular moment. 

On Nantucket this summer, the combination of terrible winter weather, cold and endless spring and foggy/damp summer has affected the growing season. While we are still not seeing field tomatoes at the farm stands, I have seen broccoli, and it is gorgeous! So, to make a long story short, here’s broccoli slaw!  

 Kitchen Sink Broccoli Slaw 

Ingredients 

About two cups or so of broccoli florets, cut as tiny as you dare

A large carrot, grated over the largest holes of the box grater

1/2 each of a green and red pepper, in a tiny dice

A good handful of red onion, also in a tiny dice, soaked in a few tablespoons of red wine vinegar for 5 minutes and saved (see below)

Dressing

1/3 C buttermilk

1/3 C Mayo (mine was homemade garlic aioli from another recipe) 

1/4 C of red wine vinegar (include the vinegar you will drain from the onions)

A very healthy squirt of honey-I used hot honey, which is chili infused and costs the world at a fancy food shop

Two big fistfuls of fresh green herbs-parsley, cilantro, chives, tarragon, mint? Be bold and decide for yourself! 

Salt and pepper to taste  

Slivered almonds or any other nut, toasted to throw on top if you like (I had some and forgot!) 

Method 

Gently combine the salad ingredients and then whisk together the dressing ingredients and taste-add more acid or sweet as necessary. Thin with a little water if it seems too thick. Dress the salad carefully-start with less and add a bit at a time to avoid the overdress! Pile it in a bowl and chill. If you have something crunchy to top it with, do that right before you serve