Curried Cole Slaw

Ingredients:
1 small head cabbage or half a large head (1 1/4 lbs)
1 carrot (4 oz) peeled
1/3 cup mayonnaise
3 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp poppy seeds
1/4 tsp Tabasco hot pepper sauce
1 tsp curry powder

1. Trim the cabbage, removing and discarding any damaged parts, and shred it on a slicer or by cutting it into thin slices with a sharp knife. (You should have 5-6 lightly packed cups.) Shred the carrot (1 lightly packed cup).

2. In a bowl large enough to hold the finished slaw, mix together the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt poppy seeds, Tabasco and curry powder. Add the cabbage and carrots, and mix well. Serve immediately or cover, refrigerate, and serve later. The cole slaw will keep, refrigerated, for up to one day.

So even though the recipe says to serve immediately, I'd recommend letting it sit, refrigerated, for a few hours first. I made this about 2 hours in advance and tasted it both right after mixing and just before serving, and I thought it the flavors had melded more and the cabbage had softened up a bit after having time to marinate.

Cheats & Changes:
We had guests joining us for dinner tonight, and I was a bit short on time today. So despite what I've said about wanting to work on my knife skills, I used a pre-packaged cole slaw mix for the cabbage and carrots. I almost always have a bag in the fridge to add to stir-frys, wraps, etc. It's very handy.

I also used "light" mayonnaise because I forgot that was all we had in the house (T & I have been trying to diet). Otherwise, I would have splurged and bought the full-fat variety, which of course always tastes better. I also ended up leaving out the poppy seeds (despite making a special trip to the store for them) because they were out of them in the bulk section and I just couldn't bring myself to spend the money on a big bottle when I only needed about 10 cents worth. Yeah, I'm weirdly cheap that way.

The Verdict:
Pretty tasty, although a bit salty, which is saying something coming from me, the original salt fiend. It wasn't overtly mayonnaise-y, and the curry powder added some nice heat, but it wasn't overpowering. In fact, most of my tasters tonight could not quite identify what seasoning was in the slaw until I told them.

T and our guests enjoyed this too and none of them are usually fans of cole slaw. I think the acidity of the vinegar cancelled out the mayonnaise, but in a good way. This dish is very easy to throw together (especially if you don't have to do any chopping) for a quick side/salad, but I'd reduce the salt by half. I might also reduce the vinegar and/or up the sugar by a wee bit next time as I thought it had a little too much tang as well.

Mock Caesar Salad

Ingredients:
2 cups loosely packed escarole
1 slice stale bread (about 1 oz)
1 1/2 tsp canola or peanut oil

Dressing:
1/2 clove garlic, peeled
1 anchovy fillet in oil, coarsely chopped
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive or peanut oil
Dash salt
Dash freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp crumbled blue cheese, or a combo of blue with pieces of Cheddar, Camembert, etc.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Remove and discard any wilted or damaged areas from the alad leaves and break the greens into 2-inch pieces. Wash and dry them thoroughly in a salad spinner.

3. Brush both sides of the bread slice with the oil and place it on a small baking sheet. Place in the 400-degree oven for 10 min or until nicely browned on both sides. break or cut into 1-inch pieces.

4. Mash the garlic clove with the tines of a fork into a coarse puree. Combine it in a small bowl with the chopped anchovy, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

5. No more than 30 minutes before serving time, add the salad greens to the dressing in the bowl and toss well. Sprinkle with the croutons and cheese, serve immediately.

Again, I doubled this. It ended up being enough for 3 small side salads. I used some of the leftover soda bread from yesterday to make the croutons, which turned out delicious. I'm not normally a big fan of croutons since the store-bought kind are always rock hard, but these were perfect. Nice and toasty/crunchy on the outside, but still a bit of chew to them.

I assume that the reason Jacques refers to this as "mock" caesar salad is because of the lack of raw eggs. I think nowadays, most people exclude that part anyway (or use a pasteurized or coddled egg instead), although the dressing definitely was more of a vinaigrette without an emulsifying agent in there.

I also thought it interesting how he refers to blue cheese as the standard choice. I think most caesar salads I've had in restaurants use parmesan. I'm not sure if that's because parmesan is a more innocuous choice or not. I'll have to do a little research on "traditional" caesar recipes.

Cheats & Changes:
I think I used a little bit less olive oil than called for in the dressing recipe. I'm not entirely sure, since I sorta eyeballed it. I probably could have done a better job mashing up the garlic, and next time I'll probably just use my (gasp!) garlic press.

Oh, and I'm super lazy when it comes to salad, so I almost always use pre-packaged mixed spring greens. I'm partial to the Earthbound Farms organic stuff. What else...oh, I used my toaster oven to make the croutons so I wouldn't have to heat up the whole house with the oven. I gotta scrimp where I can now that we're in the thick of the Texas summer. Bleh.

The Verdict:
Again, T & I both really liked this. I thought the anchovy was going to be a problem for Troy, but surprisingly, he really liked it. He later told me that he had sardines and anchovies confused, thus last night's disappointment. The anchovies added a nice saltiness and just a hint of brine. I think if I hadn't mentioned it, he never would have known they were in there. T declared this a vast improvement over last night's salad.

This was very quick to make. I tossed everything together while the chicken and rice were cooking and it all timed out perfectly. T told me he was still thinking about the salad this afternoon, so I will definitely be making it again.

Easy Shortcut Supper

Tonight's dinner had highs and lows. For sake of readability, I'm going to break it down into separate posts, recipe-by-recipe.

Greens and Sardine Salad
Ingredients:
1 (4 oz) can sardines in olive oil
1/2 c. chopped onion
3 plum tomatoes, cut into 1-inch dice (1 1/2 cups)
2 1/2 tbsp virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
5 cups salad greens (Boston lettuce, escarole, and other varieties), trimmed, rinsed and thoroughly dried

1. Reserving juices and oil in can, cut sardines into 1-inch pieces. Place the pieces in a large salad bowl, and add the reserved juices and oil. Add all the remaining ingredients except the greens to the bowl and mix them gently.

2. At serving time, add the greens to the bowl, toss to coat them with the dressing and divide among four plates for serving. (Alternatively, arrange the greens on individual plates or on a large platter and spoon the sardine mixture on top.)


First off, a confession: Troy and I aren't really big fans of sardines. But we knew going into this whole endeavor that we'd have to keep open minds and that we'd more than likely have to eat things we don't normally care for. Although to be honest, I don't think I've eaten a sardine in the last 10 years and tastes do change over time. Don't quote me on it, but I think I read a factoid somewhere that your taste buds completely change over every 4 years or something like that, not to mention that they do get duller over time.

I tasted a chunk of sardine as I was making the salad tonight, and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. It was fishy, but not overly so. Not quite as briny or salty as I thought it'd be; it more or less tasted like tuna. I'll add that I think being packed in olive oil makes everything taste better, so that's probably a big factor.

Cheats & Changes:
I made only a few minor changes. I used 2 small vine-ripened tomatoes from the farmers market in lieu of the 3 plum tomatoes called for in the original recipe. I didn't chop up the sardines either because they were boneless and skinless and I knew they'd break up into small pieces on their own when I tossed the salad. I also left out about a tablespoon of the e.v. olive oil since there was so much of it packed in the with the sardines.

The Verdict:
I liked it, but didn't love it. There are two servings left that neither of us wanted and sadly, since the greens won't keep well in the fridge, it's going to end up in the trash.
T: Didn't care for it (he's not a fan of canned tuna either), but he ate it.

Would I make/eat this again?
As printed, probably not. The addition of the sardines wasn't so wonderful that I'd go out of my way to keep them on hand, never mind that Troy won't eat them. And without them, it's otherwise just a basic green salad with a red wine vinaigrette.