Confetti Coleslaw

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I know summer is not far off when I begin thinking about making coleslaw. Once I make it, I'm doomed. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Come to think of it, I have. And as a snack in between. There's something about the combination of fresh crisp cabbage, sweet carrots and this incredible buttermilk dressing that I can't seem to get enough of.

The inspiration for the dressing comes from Kalyn's Buttermilk Dressing that she used on her coleslaw last summer. I've made a few changes to suit my whimsy, but the credit really goes to Kalyn.

Confetti Coleslaw

Inspired by Kalyn's Buttermilk Dressing

Ingredients:

Slaw

1 medium head green cabbage

1 medium head red cabbage

6 carrots

1 cup (heaping) frozen peas per bowl of slaw

1 cup lightly toasted pecan pieces

Dressing

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups Vegenaise

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon wasabi powder

3/4 teaspoon celery salt

3/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

pinch kosher salt

1 packet Splenda

Preparation:

For the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a large glass measuring cup and whisk until blended. Taste and adjust seasonings and refrigerate until ready to use. This will keep in the fridge for several days, covered.

For the slaw, remove any limp outer leaves from the cabbages, slice them in half and cut out the core. Cut the coreless cabbages into wedges small enough to fit through the feed tube of a food processor. Fit the food processor with a slicing blade and process all the cabbage, emptying the contents into a large bowl when necessary.

Peel the carrots and snip the ends. Fit the grating blade into the food processor and push the carrots through the feed tube until they've all been grated.

Combine the carrots and the cabbages and mix well.

This makes a lot of slaw so I package about half of it into a gallon-size zip top bag and put it in the crisper of the fridge to use later. It will keep this way for about 4 days.

Toss about 1 1/2 cups of the dressing with 1/2 of the cole slaw. Chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours in a sealed container, turning it from time to time to evenly distribute the dressing. About 1/2 hour before serving, add a cupful of frozen peas and toss well to mix. The peas will have defrosted by the time the salad is served. Lightly toasted pecans, added just before serving adds a nutty crunch factor. Too bad my pecan container was empty this time!

Cook's Notes:

Vegenaise. Bless the Follow Your Heart people for coming up with a mayonnaise substitute that tastes wonderful! Made without eggs, you'd think it would taste just awful but it doesn't. I prefer it to mayonnaise now and am delighted that it's full of good omega 3's. Check their site out for yourself.

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Incredible Deviled Eggs with Fried Capers

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Have you ever fried a caper? What's that got to do with deviled eggs?, you may rightfully inquire. I put fried capers in them. And smoked trout. And adobo sauce from canned chipotle chilis. AND, Kalyn's Buttermilk-Mayonnaise coleslaw dressing. People swooned. Eyes rolled. Sound bites like, "Oh, my god!", and "What did you DO to these?", and "Ohhhhhhhhh!", came bubbling forth from the crowd. It seems I've hit the jackpot. And now, I'll share my winnings with you...
The VERY first thing to do, if you want to duplicate my recipe exactly, is make some of Kalyn's buttermilk-mayonnaise dressing. Because I had some leftover from making coleslaw the other night, I used it in the eggs instead of plain ol' mayonnaise and they are very tasty this way. I'll give you the list of ingredients below.

Next, you've got to fry some capers. This is very easy, actually, and having fried capers around is not a bad thing at all. They're great in salads or just to pop in your mouth. I have a small, cast iron "butter melter" pot that works perfectly. Into it, or another serviceable pot, pour about 1 cup of peanut oil (because it has a high flash point) and set it over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, drain 4 tablespoons of capers from their brine and place on several layers of paper towels. Gently blot the excess moisture from the capers. When the oil is hot, carefully drop about 1 tablespoon capers into the pot. The oil will boil up furiously so be ready to adjust the heat. You want the boiling to continue, but not boil over. After a few minutes, the boiling will settle down and the capers will begin to pop open, exposing their little flowery insides. When they've done this, and browned a bit (not burned), scoop them up with a small strainer or slotted spoon and set onto another layering of dry paper towels to drain. Repeat this process until all the capers are fried. Taste a few. I'll bet you can't eat just one. They are a marvelous combination of salty, crunchy, paper-thin goodness that almost melts on your tongue.


Have at the ready 6 hard cooked eggs, peeled, sliced lengthwise with the yolks removed to a bowl. Mash yolks with a fork until fine. Add 1 heaping tablespoon of minced sweet onion, 4 tablespoons buttermilk-mayonnaise dressing and 1 to 2
teaspoons adobo sauce from a can of chipotle chilis. Mix well. To this add one can of Trader Joe's Smoked Trout, shredded. This newly discovered delicacy consists of boneless fillets packed in canola oil and, oh my, are they delicious. Mix gently.

Then, very gently, mix in 3 tablespoons of the fried capers, taking care not to mash them. Save the best capers for garnish.


Spoon the egg mixture into each egg half, exercising restraint by not tasting with each scoop, until all the eggs are filled. Now you can taste the bits of leftovers.

Snip a few chive stems finely and sprinkle over each egg. At this point, they may be chilled for a later use. Just prior to serving, artfully place a few fried capers on each egg. 


Ta Da!  Oh, My!
Now, on to the buttermilk-mayonnaise dressing ingredients. I made a few slight adjustments to kalyn's recipe, for which I'm sure she will forgive me.

In a bowl, combine 1 cup buttermilk, 2 cups light mayonnaise, 3 tablespoons cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon celery seed, 2 teaspoons (heaping) wasabi powder, 1 tablespoon Splenda (or sugar if preferred) and 1 teaspoon salt. Whisk to blend. This makes a lot of dressing and will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Not only is it great over coleslaw and in these eggs, you can dip cut veggies in it, drizzle it over a tomato and avocado salad or use it as a marinade for fish.

Back to Beach Night: A Leftovers Dinner with Friends

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Last Wednesday we had our first Beach Night of the season - actually on the beach. Although we were few in numbers, it made the outing that much sweeter - enjoying our friends Annie and Bruce as we do, having them all to ourselves for an evening on the beach was delightful.

And in the spirit of dinner on the beach, our food fare was simple and portable. Although I did make MOJITOS! which were fully appreciated and readily dispatched. I adapted the recipe from Epicurious.com and will share it with you here, as soon as I make another batch and photograph it.
Taking George Stella's recipe for deviled eggs to a higher level, I added smoked trout, fried capers, and the sauce from canned chipotles in adobo. WOW! Please do try this recipe. I think it's a winner. Plus, deviled eggs are very easy to make: hard boil the eggs the evening before, assemble them in the morning and take them out of the fridge for dinner.

And, Kalyn, I made coleslaw using your wonderful buttermilk-mayonnaise dressing. It was fantastic. I added wasabi, as was suggested by Anna at Cookie Madness, which was a terrific touch. I also added toasted pecans just before serving which added another dimension of crunch. And if I'd had them on hand, I would have added a small bag of frozen pettit peas into the mix, giving them enough time to thaw before serving. That's for another time.








Using leftovers from the night before to which I added some grilled corn cut from the cob, we wrapped them in a foil packet and heated it in the fire, then placed the mixture onto a hot, locally produced Brio roll and bit into a blissfully juicy, tasty, hot sandwich that was perfect for a rather cold and foggy evening.

Was it a perfect Beach Night? Well, we could have had a spectacular sunset and I'm sure there was one, somewhere. And the rest of the gang could have been there, but they'll be back. All in all it was a lovely evening, to which the photos attest.
Good night!