Two weeks ago we had a threat of snow, today it is supposed to climb to the low 80s, so I’m taking this is as a sign that we are skipping spring and heading into Summer – I’ll take it! Since it’s my version of summer here are two slaw recipes that are out of this world! They’re a great compliment to pulled-pork, burgers, or anything else that involves your grill and al fresco dining. As with many of my recipes they’re pretty easy to make and don’t require too much time. If you’re in a pinch time-wise you can use those handy bags of coleslaw mix in the lettuce section of the food store instead of shredding cabbage at home yourself (we have recently received cabbage in our awesome crop-share, but on the weeks we don’t we absolutely cheat using this!).
Carolina Slaw
Adapted from this recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large head of finely shredded cabbage
- 1 sweet onion, finely chopped
- 2 grated carrots
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 1 tsp celery seed
- 1 cup cider vinegar
Directions
Combine cabbage, onion and carrots in a large bowl. In a small pan over medium heat combine the sugar, salt, oil, mustard, celery seed and cider vinegar and bring to a boil. Simmer these ingredients until the sugar is dissolved and then pour over the veggies and toss well.
This is best served chilled, so after everything is done move it to the fridge until it is really chilled, and then dig in!
Asian Slaw
Adapted from Food Network’s recipe
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of trimmed and thinly sliced scallions
- ** shortcut alert!!** 2, 16 oz bags of coleslaw mix, OR 1 head green, 1 head red cabbage shredded
- 1 thinly sliced small, red onion
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 tsp salt
- pinch of ground black pepper
Directions
Food Network directed us to rough up the scallions a bit so the layers of the scallion whites separated. When I first read this I felt like I wasn’t reading English – what did this mean? It was pretty simple - use your fingers to roll the scallions around a bit, it sounded harder than it was, thankfully!
Combine the coleslaw mix, or shredded cabbages, red onion and scallions in a large bowl. To make the dressing, in a small bowl combine all of the remaining ingredients together until well blended together. Pour over the cabbage and veggie mixture. Food Network suggests serving this within 1 hour of adding the dressing to avoid wilted cabbage. We dressed it all at once, then ate it for the next 2 – 3 days and didn’t find that it lost flavor or got too soggy, but it may just be personal preference. 
