Last night was one of my “First Saturday” monthly potluck dinners in Manhattan Beach. It’s hosted by my friends, Diane and Paul Basile. They’re wonderfully generous, holding this fantastic dinner. Paul is the gourmet cook, choosing the main course. We happily suggest side dishes, appetizers, salads and desserts for him to choose for us to make. This way he doesn’t get 15 of the same dishes.
This month, since the date came on a holiday weekend, he chose to do a BBQ with different kinds of sausages and franks. Since I’ve been wanting to cook from London super-chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbook “Plenty More,” given to me by my culinary school buddy Cathy Arkle, every single suggestion came from it. Lucky for me, Paul chose this coleslaw recipe which was a real hit! There’s a lot of chopping, so if you don’t have a Cuisinart or mandoline, give yourself a bit of time to do that.
I’m sharing it because it’s easy to make and really brings basic BBQ food to the next level! Enjoy!
Notes
by Yotam Ottolenghi
Ingredients
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks (about 1 1/4 cups)
- 1 small fennel bulb, shredded (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 small head savoy cabbage, shredded (about 1 3/4 cups)
- 1 large head radicchio, shredded (about 3 cups)
- 1 medium red pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
- 1 red chile, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped
- 1 1/3 cups dill leaves, chopped
- 1/3 cup tarragon leaves (Personally, I left these out as I'm not a huge fan of it. Made no difference in yumminess!)
- salt and white pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the carrots, fennel and 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside for 20 minutes and drain any liquid from it if any.
- To make the nuts, in a small bowl, combine the nuts, turmeric, cumin, paprika, sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir 1 tablespoon water through the mixture so the spices cling to the nuts. Spread out on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast for about 12 minutes until golden brown and crunchy. remove and leave aside to cool.
- Return the carrots and fennel to the large bowl, add the cabbage, radicchio, red pepper and chile and stir well.
- To make the dressing, whisk together the yogurt, mayonnaise, mustard, honey, olive oil, the remaining lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt and a pinch of white pepper. Pour this over the vegetables and mix well. Add the herbs and spiced nuts, stir to combine and serve.
