We Mainers love our coleslaw; Saturday night baked beans and hot biscuits with coleslaw, traditional lobster feeds with a side of creamy coleslaw, corned beef sandwiches bursting with slaw, even at barbeques and picnics, a bowl of fresh and crunchy coleslaw is always a welcome treat.
Originating from the Netherlands, koolsla, or cabbage salad, features crisp shredded green or purple cabbage with a mayonnaise or vinaigrette dressing. Shredded carrots, chopped celery, apple or pineapple chunks, savory onion, sweet red peppers, even bacon or ham can all be part of the mix. There are as many variations of recipes as there are cooks!
Cabbage, the primary ingredient of slaw, has sustained human populations for centuries. The first cabbages were brought to the United States by the French explorer Jacques Cartier on his ocean crossing in 1541- 42. An excellent source of Vitamins K and C, cabbage is an especially important winter food, as the tightly packed heads with overlapping leaves grow better that lettuces in cold weather, and store extremely well in the root cellar.
An important food during the Dark Ages, cabbage salads were abundant in both peasant and wealthy cuisines. Today, worldwide consumption of cabbage is about 6 pounds per person annually, with China producing almost half of the crop.
Most recipes for coleslaw use mayonnaise as a base for dressing. Other variations for coleslaw include buttermilk or a dressing laced with sugar. For those that don’t enjoy mayonnaise or sugary dressings, try the recipe for Coleslaw with Creamy Pickle Dressing.
Prepared in much the same manner as traditional slaw, Coleslaw with Creamy Pickle Dressing uses pickles, yogurt and olive oil instead of mayonnaise and sugar. What kind of pickles? Sweet bread and butter pickles, crunchy dill pickles, or mouth-puckering sour pickles and their juice are all delicious in this creamy slaw. This salad recipe accommodates a wide variety of fresh vegetables, scales up easily to feed a crowd, travels simply to a potluck supper, and keeps well for several days in the refrigerator.
COLESLAW WITH CREAMY PICKLE DRESSING
Ingredients
- 3 cups thinly shredded cabbage combination of red & green is pretty
- 1 carrot peeled and grated
- ½ cup chopped onion
- ½ cup pickles and brine
- 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon Sea salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh pepper
Instructions
- Assemble ingredients and tools.
- Shred the cabbage, grate the carrot and finely chop the onion.
- Add the prepared veggies to a large bowl.
- To prepare the dressing, add the pickles, yogurt, olive oil, sea salt and fresh pepper to the bowl of your food processor or blender. Process until well combined. (Or finely chop the pickles by hand and mix in a small bowl with the yogurt and olive oil.)
- Stir the dressing into the coleslaw. Season to taste with additional sea salt and fresh pepper if needed.
- Plate and enjoy!
