An Easter Color: Red cabbage slaw

Isn't deep purple perfect for Easter? Red cabbage slaw which needs a few hours of macerating is good food to make on another day of chores. There is a real prospect here on a double level: the chores and the food.

Red cabbage slaw

Salad from a movement called Mazdaznan, in Greet Buchner, Wegen naar gezondheid (Ways to Health).

1/2 red cabbage, sliced, and washed (the color of the water turns blue)
3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon (or less) salt
curry powder
1 teaspoon of sugar (omitted here *)
1 onion, chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced

Combine all the ingredients, and mix well.

I did not use the onion today, but 3 spring onions and a bunch of chopped chives.

*When stark sober, not ill, not craving sunshine, and not faced with Dutch licorice in a gas station, this blog writer doesn't buy the teaspoon of sugar in food.

Choucroute or Sauerkraut

This winter has been riddled for me with heating problems. As I type this, my cold fingers are trying to withstand the last moments of 9 °C temperature in my home, ever since the heat waned since early morning yesterday, until the technician comes with the spare part and a solution. Even with a cosy temperature indoors, Sauerkraut or choucroute is perfect on the menu, not in the least because of the variety of inane meats one rarely has, but also because the salted and fermented cabbage is a vitamin C bomb.

Here is a healthy way of preparing it. Unlike Ukrainians, I don't ferment the cabbage from scratch, but I don't follow instructions on the package either.

The cabbage (300 g)
Instead of boiling the ready-made fermented cabbage in water, I stew it softly in its own juices. Add a couple of juniper berries.

The meat:
Casseler ham
Bacon
Frankfurters

Instead of frying the meat, here's a method for preparing ham Florentine style, from Françoise Bernard's 1000 recipes of French cooking.

Preheat the oven at 70 °C.

Put the meat in an oven dish.

Take one glass of port, and pour it over the meat.

Put the oven dish in the oven, cover it, and let this cook for 25 minutes.

Note: I used a great Italian aperitivo called Punt e mes instead of port.

Remove your mittens and eat.

Deep Purple: Red Cabbage Salad

Cabbage is king in winter, and winter is finally here, with temperatures suddenly reaching below zero, ouch! We're having cold and sunny days, with the promise of a little snow later this week. When you wash shredded red cabbage, the water turns the color of blue ink, but the salad macerating in dressing gives way to vivid reds and purple.

We took off from Michael van Straten's book Super Salads in which he combines three different kinds of cabbage.

My friends don't know yet, but I'm serving this in midget portions as an hors d'oeuvre next Saturday.


Deep Purple: Red Cabbage Salad

1/2 red cabbage, finely shredded
2-3 tablespoons raisins
1 apple
handful of pecans or walnuts
generous sprinkling of sesame seeds
Dressing:
1 teaspoon mustard,
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cottage cheese
sesame oil,
pepper

Shred the cabbage really finely (finely is key). Combine all salad ingredients. Combine all dressing ingredients really well, and pour over the salad. Preferably let macerate for a few hours before eating.