Red Cabbage Salad

October – Health Food Salad
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October – Health Food Salad

Health Food Salad

Health Food Salad

I am giving you a post Thanksgiving recipe today, a salad you may want to eat after the glorious overindulgence in traditional Thanksgiving sides and desserts. I know I will be serving it. You could even toss in some leftover turkey to make it a whole meal. I think the folks over at Fiesta Friday may want to tag it. Fiesta Friday is hosted by Angie, it’s Fiesta Friday #458 this week. Come on over and plan your menus for the holidays, decorate your home, or keep the kids busy with activities or baking.

This is another recipe from salad freak. You are going to be seeing more great recipes from this book. My version, as usual, has some changes as not all the ingredients were available. But it is definitely true to the spirit of the recipe. I added a small handful of shredded pecorino which was not in the book, leave it out for a vegan version.

Adding the cheese was inspired by a recipe in Molly Wizenberg’s book A Homemade Life. She has a very simple but delicious Red Cabbage Salad with Lemon and Black Pepper which couldn’t be easier. Here it is:

In a small bowl whisk together 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon of grated garlic, 1/8 teaspoon of kosher salt. Very finely (essential) shred about 1-1/2 lbs of cored red cabbage. Discard any with white cores. Toss the cabbage in a bowl with a large spoonful or two of the dressing. Add the Parmesan and toss again. Add a generous grind of fresh pepper. Taste and add more dressing or salt and pepper.

Anyway, on to the current version of this cabbage salad.

I used the fine blade of my food processor to shredd the cored cabbage, and the shredding blade for the carrots. You could certainly do this with a knife (a bread knife might be easier for the cabbage) and the large shredding side of a box grater.

Feel free to improvise here with whatever is in your fridge. Thinly sliced fennel would be good, celery as well.

Health Food Salad

Health Food Salad

Health Food Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 small head of red cabbage
  • 4 carrots, peeled
  • 2 large handfuls of sprouts, any kind you find. I used sunflower and pea shoots, but radish, lentils or alfalfa would all be fine.
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 cup of raisins (I used a mix of golden and black currents because of was out of the dark ones…much to my last minute surprise)
  • 1 cup of roasted shelled sunflower seeds (I think pumpkin seeds would also be delicious)
  • 1/4 cup of hemp seeds (I didn’t have any and left them out)
  • 1 tablespoon of poppy seeds
  • 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan (leave out for a vegan version)
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Kosher salt

Method:

  1. Core the cabbage and shave it thinly into a large bowl. Grate the carrots into the same bowl.
  2. Toss in the sprouts, raisins, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds and hemp seeds, if using. Mix it all up and then add a large pinch of salt, a glug of olive oil and the juice of half the lemon. Taste and add more lemon juice, salt, Parmesan or olive oil if needed.

This salad keeps incredibly well and was still delicious the next night for dinner with some added rotisserie chicken.

Health Food Salad

Health Food Salad

From:

salad freak

Salad Freak by Jess Damuck

October – Simple Red Cabbage Salad with Lemon and Black Pepper
by

October – Simple Red Cabbage Salad with Lemon and Black Pepper

Winter is the best season for cabbage as it is the sweetest during the cooler months of the year. The simplicity of this salad is misleading, the sum is much greater than the parts. I first read the recipe in “A Homemade Life: stories and recipes from my kitchen table“ by Molly Wizenberg. She too was surprised at how delicious the combination was when first prepared by her husband-to-be.

This goes together quickly, is very pretty, and gets tastier after marinating for a day. It’s the perfect side dish for sausages or a simple roast chicken. Molly suggests topping good toasted country bread with fresh goat cheese and a spoonful of the salad as a snack or quick lunch.

Red Cabbage Salad

  • 1 small head of red cabbage
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, freshly squeezed
  • 1 small garlic clove, smashed and minced
  • 1/8 teaspoon of salt.
  • 1/4 cup of finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  1. Make your dressing by combining the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and garlic in a small jar. Shake to mix and set aside until needed.
  2. Trim any wilted outer leaves from the red cabbage, trim the root and wash away any dirt. Cut the cabbage into quarters. Using a sharp knife (a serrated bread knife works well), slice the cabbage as thinly as you can. Discard the white cores.
  3. In a large bowl, toss the cabbage with about half the dressing. Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and toss again. Season generously with black pepper. Taste for salt and add more dressing as needed. (I usually add more grated Parmesan.)
Simple Red Cabbage Salad

Simple Red Cabbage Salad

We loved it as a side dish with turkey meatloaf, and it was good the next day with leftovers.