Psychadelic Slaw

There are plenty of foods that are associated with summer. Coleslaw is without a doubt one of them. I have unquestionably made coleslaw in the dead of winter, but truly it is a perfect side to any meal when the heat is on and the sun is up. It is crunchy, tangy and acidic, maybe even with a hint of sweetness. Typically  coleslaw balances out many flavours that are likely to come off your barbeque. I prefer an oil and vinegar base to my coleslaw dressing as it tends to hold up to warm days better than a mayonnaise dressing. Food poisoning ain't never impressed no female, and you won't get any sympathy if she's sick, too!!

This summer slaw is a personal creation and the dressing is quite simple. My inspiration behind the dressing was the vinegary slaw that you might find on a toastee or a steamee from a deli or La Belle Province in Montreal. I admittedly have a weakness for hot dogs, especially with crunchy, tangy coleslaw on them. Now for the vege part, I suggest you get creative with whatever is in your fridge, but I like to use an array of vegetables that all offer bright, contrasting colours to make your creation as sexy and visually appealing as possible. It's all about the show.

You will need:

- a head of cabbage (go for the purple stuff, or mix it up with a bit of purple and green)

- carrots

- onions of some variety (sweet, white, red, green, whatever you got or like)

- fresh flat leaf parsley

- colourful sweet peppers

- cider or rice vinegar

- vegetable oil

- caraway seeds (and ground coriander seeds add a nice flavour too)

- garlic (minced or chopped finely)

- ground mustard powder

- whole grain mustard and dijon mustard
- Sugar

To start this process off, you want to prepare the salad part first. So remove the outer leaves from your cabbage heads. Now using your sharp-ass-knife, cut the head of cabbage in half. Start slicing the cabbage as thinly as possible, and toss it in a big mudda of a bowl. If you have a food processor, cut the cabbage into big chunks and jam them down into that luxury machine with a slicing blade in it.

Using a cheese grater, shred up as much carrot as you would like. I dig the way the orange just pops off the purple so I get pretty nasty with the carrots, using about one full carrot (not that baby carrot shit) to a half head of cabbage. If you got knife skills, thinly slice your onion, or if you're lazy just grate the onion. Them amount of onion, also up to you! I like a zesty slaw so I use around a full medium sized onion per half head.

(We got lazy and grated the onion)

Cut the top and bottom of your pepper off and throw a slice right down one side vertically. Scrape out all the guts and slice that mother as thin as you can (think matchsticks), then attempt to do the same with the bottom. Compost the top, and throw the peppers in the bowl. Red peppers are my personal favourite to use, again thinking about visual appeal.

(No red peppers, but thankfully had yellow)

Now for the dressing. Mince (chop finely) the garlic and get it in the saucepan over medium heat with the vinegar, oil, sugar, a tablespoon of grainy mustard, a few generous pinches of ground mustard, caraway seeds and coriande and rock it up to a light boil. Whisk to incorporate all the ingredients. Get a spoon in there and taste a bit to make sure its not too oil/vinegary/mustardy, and adjust measurements if need be. Take some logs off the fire and let it simmer for about 3 minutes then transfer right into the bowl. 

Now for my favourite part. Toss that salad and toss it well. Don't bother with any fancy utensils, just get your hands right in there. Season with salt and pepper, garnish with some thinly sliced green onions and chopped parsley, and throw it in the fridge for a couple hours to soak all that tastiness in. If you don't have the time to let it sit, prepare this first and let it sit while you make the rest of the meal. Proceed to serve with everything. Especially Hot Dogs.

(Special thanks to Mallory for putting up with me while I tried to not boss her around the kitchen, as well as being my hand model!)