It’s summer! Woo-hoo!
Right now, my favorite local farmers’ market is bursting with beautiful produce. What better way to showcase (and enjoy!) that bounty than by making a fresh salad?
Make that a fresh crunchy coleslaw and I’m in heaven. Make it beautiful and just WOW.
How to get that beauty in a coleslaw, though? I confess to years of making dull greenish slaws with nothing more interesting than a bit of mayo and some caraway seeds. This Ottolenghi Grilled Sweetcorn Slaw recipe, with the usual creative brilliance of the Ottolenghi kitchen, changes all that. Grill some sweetcorn! Pickle some red onions! Sprinkle cilantro leaves and mint leaves liberally into the mix!
One of my favorite items at my local farmers’ market is the intensely-colored carrots. When we used to travel in India, I fell in love with the bright red carrots that were often used in the wonderful carrot puddings. After years of looking, I’ve finally found them again at a small specialty stall at my farmers’ market. The vendor there specializes in all sorts of great stuff—tender carrots in multiple colors, pointy haspi cabbages and on and on. So, it was with pleasure that I featured those beautiful carrots in this salad.
This recipe comes from the Ottolenghi online site. You can find the recipe here.
Here is the Grilled Sweetcorn Slaw recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.
Grilled Sweetcorn Slaw
Ingredients
- For the Salad:
- 1/3 C. white wine vinegar
- 2/3 C. water
- 1/4 medium green cabbage (shredded)
- 3 carrots (julienned)
- 1 small red onion (thin sliced)
- 2 corn cobs (brushed with olive oil)
- 2 red chiles (finely chopped)
- 1/2 C. cilantro leaves
- 1/2 C. fresh mint leaves
- Olive oil
- Salt and black pepper
- For the Dressing:
- 1/4 C. mayonnaise
- 2 t. Dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 t. neutral oil
- 1 T. fresh lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic (pressed)
Directions
- Step 1 Combine white wine vinegar with water and 1 . salt in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil and then remove from heat.
- Step 2 Prepare the cabbage and carrots. Pour about 2/3 of the warm vinegar liquid over the cabbage. Leave the bowl on your counter for about 20 minutes.
- Step 3 Pour the remaining 1/3 of the vinegar mixture over the sliced red onions. Set aside for about 20 minutes for the onions to pickle.
- Step 4 After your cabbage, carrots and onions have pickled for about 20 minutes, drain the vinegar liquid off the vegetables and rinse them. Dry the vegetables and place them in a large bowl.
- Step 5 Grill the oiled corn on the cob for a few minutes. (The original Ottolenghi recipe used 4 corn cobs, by the way.)You want some black grill color on the corn. When the corn has grilled, cut the corn kernels off the cob (preferably in chunks) and add them to the cabbage mixture in your salad bowl.
- Step 6 Prepare your salad dressing by combining all the ingredients and mixing until you have a smooth dressing. Pour the dressing over your salad and toss to combine.
- Step 7 Add the chiles, cilantro leaves and mint leaves to the salad. Add a generous coarse grind of black pepper and salt to your taste. Toss to combine.
- Step 8 Serve in a pretty bowl.
- Step 9 Cook’s Note: This is best served the same day it is made to enjoy the maximum coleslaw crunch!
