Creamy, Crunchy Dijon Cole Slaw

5 Comments May 27, 2022 terrie gura

My intention for this post and recipe was to introduce you to my new food processor; I’m excited about my choice of machines and still learning how to use some of the features that are new to me. But I’ll save that for another day, because what this post is really about is a new trick I’ve learned in the kitchen—one that has very little to do with my food processor and everything to do with trying something new with an old tried-and-true: cole slaw.

There are so many ways one can make cole slaw, and it’s usually the dressing that makes each version special, whether it’s sweet and creamy like a KFC-style slaw or refined and elegant with a lime and poppy seed vinaigrette. I shared those when Comfort du Jour was brand new, and they are delicious, just like the tangy apple cole slaw from last summer.

Cole Slaw Two Ways

May 21, 2020

Tangy Apple Cole Slaw

August 12, 2021

This time, I’ve changed the dressing again (and I think you’ll love its delicate Dijon flavor), but I’ve also dabbled in a new technique that I read about from one of my newest kitchen idols, J. Kenji López-Alt. I love the way this guy approaches food, always with a “what if” attitude, and after his exhaustive experiments in what he calls “The Food Lab,” Kenji is great about sharing his culinary discoveries with home cooks like you and me. You will find a ton of his recipes on the Serious Eats website, but also on his own YouTube channel, which a basically a rabbit hole of exciting kitchen experiments.

His method for making cole slaw produces a perfectly textured salad that is soft, yet pleasantly crunchy. It has all the right flavor but doesn’t get soggy in the bowl. That has always been the bummer, hasn’t it—to load up your plate with all your summer favorites, only to have everything turn milky and soggy because the cole slaw dressing runs everywhere? Well, friends, Kenji has fixed that! And this game changer is so darn simple. Rather than just adding dressing to freshly shredded cabbage and carrots, there’s an intermediate step of extracting most of the moisture from the vegetables first. Under Kenji’s guidance, I tossed the cabbage and carrots with a very generous scoop each of kosher salt and cane sugar, then rinsed it under cold water (which seemed counterproductive with the intention of removing excess water, but stay with me), and then I dried it before proceeding with the dressing. The results were outstanding, and the fine strands of cabbage held exactly enough dressing for flavor, but not so much to drown it.

The extraction of extra moisture results in a cole slaw that feels almost like sauerkraut, with a squeezed-dry texture, but with all the familiar crunch and flavor you expect.

The dressing is a departure from other cole slaw recipes I’ve made, as it has only a slight hint of sugar (a lovely balance to the apple cider vinegar in the recipe). Dijon mustard lends a little sass to the creamy mayo, and I mixed in a dash of celery seed along with drained, finely shredded sweet onion and about two dozen twists of freshly cracked black pepper. Here’s how it goes, beginning with about 8 cups of shredded cabbage and carrots in a very large bowl:

I used my new food processor to shred the cabbage, carrots and onions in this cole slaw. I’ll share more about my new toy in another post. 😉
The shredded onions need to be drained, and I added those to the dressing rather than the salad itself because it blends better that way. I’ll save the onion juice for a bbq sauce.
Here’s where the recipe gets risky. A generous scoop of kosher salt gets sprinkled over the shredded veggies.
And a generous scoop of cane sugar, too. Together, these pantry ingredients are going to pull a ton of excess moisture out of the cabbage.
I know. It looks crazy. But toss the ingredients and let them rest for at least 5 minutes, up to 15.
Look how much liquid was released from my shredded cabbage in just 15 minutes!
Transfer the cabbage blend to a colander and rinse under cold water for at least two minutes. Toss it gently to ensure even rinsing.
If you have a salad spinner, Kenji recommends drying it that way, in batches. I hate cleaning the spinner, so I went with plan B, spreading the cabbage out onto a clean kitchen towel.
Place another towel over the cabbage and gently wrap it up to absorb excess water. This is a good time to mention that towels used in the kitchen should be washed with unscented detergent and no fabric softener.
Oh, cool, a tie-dyed kitchen towel! (Don’t worry, it will rinse away.)
After a quick taste, it was obvious to me that I didn’t rinse long enough to remove that hefty dose of salt, so I gave it another rinse, this time in a bowl of cold water.
This time, the cabbage tasted perfect, and now I had TWO sets of tie-dyed kitchen towels. 🙂
The slaw dressing is mayo, Dijon mustard, a teaspoon of sugar, celery seed, apple cider vinegar and a generous amount of black pepper.
I find that wispy shreds of onion are easier to blend into a salad by way of the dressing, so I added them here.
At first glance, this didn’t seem like enough dressing for so much cabbage, but it was perfect. Who else is in favor of LESS mayonnaise this summer? 🙂
This slaw is perfectly dressed with an even coating of the creamy Dijon dressing, and to show you how un-soggy it is, I transferred it to a fridge bowl using my kitchen tongs. No drips!
This salad was still delicious after several days in the fridge.

At the point that I noticed all that liquid resting in the bowl after the salt-and-sugar bath, it occurred to me that Kenji’s technique for cole slaw is basically the same one I use for making homemade giardiniera, and the outcome is similar, too—crunchy and firm, despite being soaked in a pickling liquid.

My inspiration for both the technique and dressing on this cole slaw comes directly from Kenji, and if you want to get geeked about the science behind it (as I already have), you may do so by linking to this article:

How To Make the Best Creamy Coleslaw | The Food Lab

Otherwise, just get straight to making it. 🙂

Creamy, Crunchy Dijon Cole Slaw

Servings: 8
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: none
Difficulty: average
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If you’ve never had cole slaw that didn’t water down your entire plate, then this recipe is for you! The intermediate step of “purging” the moisture from the shredded cabbage is changing the game on this favorite summer salad.

Ingredients

8 cups total, shredded green and red cabbage (fresh is best)
3 average sized carrots, peeled and shredded
1/4 cup kosher salt (for purging)
1/3 cup cane sugar (for purging)

Ingredients

scant 1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. prepared Dijon mustard
1 tsp. cane sugar
1/2 tsp. celery seed
1 heaping teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 medium yellow or sweet onion, finely shredded and drained

To make this cole slaw, you will need a large colander for draining the cabbage, and a salad spinner or clean, unscented towels for eliminating the excess moisture.

Directions

Combine the shredded cabbage and carrots in a large bowl, with extra room for tossing. Pour the kosher salt and cane sugar all over the shreds and toss with salad forks or your clean hands to distribute throughout the cabbage mixture. Allow it to rest at least 5 minutes, or up to 15 minutes. The salt-sugar blend will coax the excess moisture from the cabbage.
Transfer the mixture to a colander placed in the sink. You should notice a significant volume of liquid in the bottom of the bowl. Rinse the mixture really well under cold, running water. Toss it thoroughly as you rinse, and continue for about two minutes to get all the excess salt removed. Taste a piece or two. If they are too salty, rinse another couple of minutes.
To dry the cabbage, use a salad spinner (in batches) or line a baking sheet with a clean kitchen towel or layers of paper towels. Place the cabbage on the towels, cover with another towel (or more layers of paper towels) and press heartily to soak up the moisture. I used kitchen towels and gently rolled up the cabbage to squeeze out the excess water. Transfer the cabbage to a large bowl for dressing.
Combine the dressing ingredients, stirring in the drained, shredded onion after mixing. Pour over the cabbage blend and toss to coat.

Have a safe Memorial Day weekend! And if you’re wondering what happened to my tie-dyed towels, never fear:

I swished them around in the sink, filled with hot soapy water. All the purple and orange colors went down the drain!

Corned Beef Shepherd’s Pie

14 Comments March 20, 2022 terrie gura

For the first year in a long time, I did not do my usual DIY Corned Beef for St. Patrick’s Day. The continued time warp caused by COVID, combined with yet another home renovation project that has just begun at our house, has left me a little flustered and out of my routine. So, there’s that, plus a discovery that I made in our freezer.

Last year, we did two huge briskets in my homemade corned beef brine—one was fated to be a classic corned beef with cabbage and carrots, and the other went the extra mile to become smoked pastrami—and I recently uncovered not one, but two packages of said meat that have been hiding in the depths of our freezer drawer. I couldn’t justify making more until we finished what we already had, but what does one do with a pound of vacuum-sealed, sliced corned beef, other than the obvious sandwiches?

I love cooking up fun foods for special occasions, and shepherd’s pie is a classic for St. Patrick’s Day. A typical shepherd’s pie is made with ground meat (usually lamb or beef), peas, carrots and mashed potato topping. But I could not pass over the entire St. Pat’s celebration without the old standby of corned beef and cabbage. Last year, I shared my recipe for colcannon (which I also love), so I whipped up a new batch of that as my pie topper, and I picked up two fun (and Irish) ingredients to give the colcannon extra body and a boost of sharp flavor. Irish white cheddar was a no-brainer, and when I sought out a package of Irish butter (which I only splurge on this time of year), this embellished version jumped right into my basket!

This is how they make Irish butter even better!

Well, that was lucky! Butter that is already flavored with fresh herbs would make this dish even quicker to prepare.

I channeled my grandmother a little bit in making this dish. She was the absolute queen of leftovers, a real whiz at transforming a random thing from the freezer into a full-blown meal that had leftovers of its own. The shepherd’s pie was delicious, perfectly festive for the occasion, and finally helped me use up the frozen corned beef that I forgot I had.

If you’re staring down your own corned beef leftovers, give this dish a go. If you happen to have leftover cabbage and carrots, or leftover mashed potatoes, too—well, you’re way ahead of the game.

A shepherd’s pie is a fun way to revisit the classic flavors of corned beef and cabbage, and this reheats beautifully, even in the microwave.

Ingredients

There are three specific components to this easy dish, and I’ll break down the ingredients list and instructions accordingly. Follow along with the slides and scroll to the end of the post for a downloadable version you can print or save for your recipe files.

Corned Beef & Cabbage Filling

2 Tbsp. garlic and herb Irish butter

1/2 small head green cabbage, chopped

1 cup baby carrots, cut into bite-size chunks

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 lb. leftover corned beef, sliced or cubed

Cook the onions, carrots and cabbage in two tablespoons of the garlic herb butter until the onions are softened. Remember to season them!

Melt the butter in a large sauce pot or skillet. Sauté the carrots, onion and cabbage until the onions are translucent and the cabbage is soft. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a glass 8×8 oven-safe casserole dish. Set aside, adding the corned beef later when you are ready to assemble the dish.

Colcannon with Irish Cheddar

1 lb. peeled potatoes, cut and cooked until tender (I used 50/50 russet and Yukon gold)

2 Tbsp. garlic and herb Irish butter

1 leek, cleaned and sliced into half-moon shapes

1/2 small head green cabbage, sliced thin

A fat handful of baby spinach leaves, rough chopped

1 cup shredded Irish white cheddar

Get those potatoes boiling! I used a mix of russets and Yukon gold potatoes. Cook until they can be easily pierced with a knife tip.
Use only the white and lighter green parts of the leek. Be sure to clean it properly to remove the sandy grit that lurks between layers.
Let’s make it extra green! Alongside the sliced cabbage, I tossed in some baby spinach leaves.
The soaking water is always a little murky after removing the rinsed leeks. Pat them dry on a towel before cooking.
Saute the leeks and cabbage in two tablespoons of the garlic herb butter. When softened, turn off the heat and stir in the spinach.
Add the vegetables to the drained potatoes and toss in the shredded Irish cheddar.
For quick mixing, I used my stand mixer to blend the colcannon. Use a potato masher if you prefer, and don’t worry about lumps.

Get the potatoes cooking (don’t forget to season the water with a generous pinch of salt!) and drain them when they reach fork-tender stage.

Meanwhile, melt butter in the same sauce pot or skillet used for the corned beef and cabbage filling. Add the leeks and cabbage and cook until tender (season them). Turn off the heat and add the spinach to the pan. Toss it around to wilt the spinach. When the mixture is somewhat cool, add it to the cooked potatoes and mash them together. Stir in the white cheddar and set aside.

Gravy

2 Tbsp. garlic and herb Irish butter

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (or beef broth)

2 tsp. beef base (optional, to boost beef flavor if using veg broth)

Still using the same pan, make a roux for the gravy.
I did not have beef broth, but low sodium vegetable broth worked fine.
A little bit of beef base adds the flavor I missed in the broth.
The beef base also boosted the color. You know what else would be great for this? A little bit of Guinness!

Melt the butter in the same skillet and add flour, whisking until the mixture is foamy with a slightly nutty aroma. Whisk in broth, cooking and stirring until the mixture is thickened. Add beef base, if desired, to deepen the flavor. Or, if you happen to have a Guinness in the fridge… I’m just sayin’.

Put it all together – Preheat oven to 350° F.

Mix the cut up corned beef with the vegetables. Mine is not pink because I don’t use nitrites in my homemade corned beef brine.
Pour the gravy over the filling and give it a jiggle or two to evenly distribute it.
Spoon dollops of the colcannon over the filling. For a nice, rustic appearance, don’t smooth the potatoes, and don’t worry about the edges.
Half an hour in the oven at 350° F, and the filling should be bubbling out around the edges. And look at the lovely roast on the cheesy colcannon peaks!

Add the corned beef chunks to the cabbage and carrot mixture and toss to mix it in the casserole dish. Pour the gravy evenly over the filling. Top with dollops of colcannon (don’t smooth it) and bake for 45 minutes, until gravy is bubbling from underneath and colcannon has turned lightly crispy on its peaks.

Corned Beef Shepherd’s PiePrint it!

Tangy Apple Cole Slaw

7 Comments August 12, 2021 terrie gura

It seems funny to me that the three most popular summer salads are based on the most economical ingredients—macaroni, potatoes or cabbage. Nothing fancy and yet we love them! As we wind down summer (which I can hardly believe is happening, even as I write this), I will share a few of my own twists on these three summer classic salads, beginning with the easiest—cole slaw.

The most obvious benefit of cole slaw is that you don’t have to cook anything to make it. This easy summer side comes together lickety-split (especially if you buy the pre-shredded bagged cabbage), it pairs nicely with everything from grilled chicken to pulled pork to burgers and beyond, and with cabbage as the primary ingredient, it packs a pretty hefty nutritional punch, with loads of fiber, vitamins and minerals. If you don’t drown it in mayonnaise or sugary dressing, it’s pretty darn good for you.

I’ve taken my standby “KFC-style” slaw in a slightly different direction with this recipe, keeping the cabbage and carrots (though I used yellow and white ones this time) and adding shredded Granny Smith apple for a little extra tartness. For my creamy-style dressing (which does have some mayonnaise but also cultured buttermilk and regular milk), I’ve swapped in a specialty white balsamic vinegar that echoes the flavors of the Granny Smith apple. The result is a tangier offering than usual, perfect as a side for anything rich or meaty that you might be pulling off the grill through the last days of summer.

Ingredients

I selected Granny Smith for the firm, crunchy texture and tart flavor. To peel or not to peel, this is your choice.

About 6 cups finely shredded green cabbage

1 cup carrots, finely shredded or cut into thin matchstick pieces

1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled (or not), cored and shredded

Juice of 1/2 small lemon (to prevent apple browning)

1/2 medium sweet onion, shredded and squeezed dry of juice* (see notes)

1/3 cup mayonnaise (I used canola mayo from Trader Joe’s)

3 Tbsp. whole milk

3 Tbsp. buttermilk*

3 Tbsp. green apple white balsamic vinegar*

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. white pepper

1/2 tsp. celery seed

*Notes

It is important that you press out as much of the onion juice as possible; otherwise the dressing will break down and become watery. I shredded the onion in my food processor and then pressed it through a mesh strainer. When assembling the salad, add the onion to the dressing rather than the cabbage blend.

Real cultured buttermilk works best, but you could have similar results with the same amount of plain, low-fat yogurt or Greek yogurt.

The green apple white balsamic vinegar is a specialty item that my husband picked up on a trip to California a few years ago. Check with a balsamic and olive oil shop in your area to see if it carries “Gravenstein apple” balsamic, as that would be a perfect substitution. Otherwise, use 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar and 2 Tbsp. sugar to mimic the balanced sweetness of the balsamic.

Instructions

When cut on the bias, my carrot chips look like tiny french fries!
I used the fine shred blade on my food processor, but you could also use a box grater to shred the onion. Either way, drain all the juice.
It would be difficult to evenly distribute the shredded onion into the cabbage mixture, so I blended it into the dressing instead.
I’ll bet this thick, oniony dressing would be good on other salads, too.
Toss and fold the salad to dress it evenly. I used a scoop spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl. Adjust salt to taste.

Combine the shredded cabbage and carrots in a large bowl. Add the shredded apple to the bowl, immediately squeeze the fresh lemon juice over the apple and then toss the apple to distribute the lemon juice. This will help prevent the apple from browning while you mix the dressing.

In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together mayonnaise, buttermilk and milk until the mixture is smooth. Add vinegar, salt, pepper and celery seed, and stir to blend. Add the shredded onion to the dressing and stir until it’s evenly distributed.

Adjust the dressing to your taste; if you find it too tart, add a teaspoon of sugar at a time until it is to your liking. Remember that sugar (or salt) needs a few minutes to dissolve in a dressing, so you may want to let it rest a few minutes to be sure you have adjusted correctly.

Pour the dressing over the cole slaw mix and toss to combine. Refrigerate at least an hour for best flavor, but this salad will also keep in the fridge for several days.

Tangy Apple Cole SlawPrint it!

“Un-stuffed” Cabbage Roll Soup

2 Comments December 8, 2020 terrie gura

One of my favorite things to do in the kitchen is an unexpected twist on a food from my childhood. I remember seeing a recipe card in some family member’s collection for a dish called “glumpkies” or “go-umpkees” or something like it. Who knows the story on the name of the dish, but I remember that I really liked these rolled up packages of seasoned meat and rice inside tender leaves of cabbage and smothered in rich tomato sauce. It was pure comfort food, and though I’ve made them plenty of times in their classic form, I much prefer this simple, one-pot interpretation.

My Comfort du Jour twist on stuffed cabbage is what you might call a “deconstruction,” and it makes the classic dish a lot more approachable with minimal effort. It’s a pain to pre-cook the cabbage for traditional stuffed rolls, and in many ways, it even feels dangerous. I’ve burned myself in some of my early attempts to make the rolled-up version, and in some other attempts I’ve ended up with too much of the cabbage head remaining, and limited options for how to use it because it’s been boiled. That certainly won’t work for cole slaw, and what else are you gonna do with a bunch of extra, partially-cooked cabbage?

One of the flavors I always associate with cabbage rolls is caraway, the same seed that gives deli rye bread a distinct seasoning. I don’t know where the caraway was introduced to this dish for me, but it adds a little something that really works with the rustic chunks of cabbage, tomato and ground beef. If your family has a favorite traditional season, consider how you might put your own spin on my recipe with those beloved flavors.

The rest of the ingredients are simple, and you only need a medium stockpot and about an hour of simmering to get it on the table. Enjoy!

Served with a slice of crusty bread, this soup is hearty, satisfying and comforting.

Ingredients

1 lb. lean ground beef (90% lean is good)

1 tsp. caraway seed, crushed or milled in a spice grinder*

1 medium onion, rough chopped

Extra virgin olive oil

2 cups green cabbage, rough chopped

15 oz. can diced tomatoes, preferably low sodium

Salt and pepper

1 32 oz. carton beef broth, preferably low sodium

Cooked brown rice for serving

*Notes

Caraway seed is the same spice that gives rye bread a distinctive flavor. I’m not sure how I came to associate this flavor with stuffed cabbage rolls, but it is really delicious with the cabbage, tomato and meat. Substitute your own favorite flavor, or simply omit this ingredient. The soup will be delicious either way!

Instructions

A blade-style coffee grinder is great for grinding or milling seed spices. If you don’t have a grinder or mortar and pestle, it’s fine to add the caraway seeds whole. Or omit them, whichever. 🙂
Press the ground caraway seed into the meat, to ensure that the flavor is equally distributed throughout the soup.
Give the bits of beef a chance to brown and cook before adding more. This will help them keep their shape in the finished soup.
Continue until all the meat has been browned.
My cabbage was medium sized, and I used this entire half in the soup. Well, except for a few “extra” pieces.
Use the whole can of diced tomatoes, juice and all.
Use any brand of beef broth, but try to look for one in the 500mg sodium per serving range.
Allow the soup to simmer until the cabbage is wilted and tender and the tomatoes have broken down a bit.
My solution for the extra cabbage pieces. She is such an unusual dog. ❤
Serve big scoops of soup over cooked brown rice. It’s all the same flavors of stuffed cabbage rolls, and none of the fuss!

Press ground beef on a cutting board or parchment into a flat shape, about 1/2″ thick.
If you have a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, use it to crush or grind the caraway seed into smaller bits. This is not essential, but it contributes flavor without the seed texture.
Sprinkle the caraway powder or whole seeds all over the surface of the ground beef, and press to fully adhere it.
Place a medium, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Swirl in about a tablespoon of olive oil. Add onions and sauté until slightly softened and golden. Season with salt and pepper.
Tear off bits of ground beef and add them, only a few at a time, tossing in the hot oil to cook the edges before adding another small handful. Repeat until all ground beef is lightly browned. Avoid the temptation to add all the meat at once, as this will result in mushy meat rather than browned, individual bits.
Add the chopped cabbage to the pot and toss to begin cooking. Add tomatoes, sauce included.
Add beef broth and stir to combine. Allow mixture to come to a light boil, then cover and reduce heat. Simmer about an hour, until cabbage is tender.
Serve over brown rice.

Want to make this recipe?

Un-Stuffed Cabbage Roll Soup Download & Print