slaw tartare

“Here, taste this”, I requested, bringing Dave a cornichon.

He obliged, then made a face. “Euck, it’s a pickle.”

I sighed. Brined food is Dave’s single food hangup, but the cornichons had seemed relatively mild to me. I was hoping he wouldn’t mind them.

I went back into the kitchen to finish the salad, snacking on at least one cornichon for every one I chopped.

Before too long, I tried again, this time with capers. “Too briny”, he insisted.

I was starting to get worried about whether Dave would tolerate this slaw at all. Instead of coleslaw, he might be topping his shrimp burger with arugula and, uh…ketchup? We were out of mayonnaise; it had all gone into the dressing.

I forged on, but halved the capers and reduced the vinegar by even more. After mixing the dressing into the salad, I started tasting for seasoning. Results were inconclusive, so I tasted again. Seems okay, but I should take one more taste. When I realized that all my tasting was simply to keep eating, I decided the seasoning was just fine.

But it was time for the real test. I took a small bowl of the coleslaw to Dave. “Ooh, this is good slaw!” he exclaimed, finishing the bowl off in no time. I let out the breath I’d been holding. He was right. It is good slaw.

(The shrimp burgers were delicious.  They will be my next entry.)

One year ago: Pasta with Cauliflower, Walnuts, and Ricotta Salata
Two years ago: Creamy Buttermilk Coleslaw (okay, that’s kind of wierd)

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Slaw Tartare (adapted from Smitten Kitchen who adapted it from Rebecca Charles’ and Deborah Di Clementi’s Lobster Rolls and Blueberry Pies)

Not a fan of watery coleslaw, these days I salt all of my cabbage destined for slaw.

Also, the recipe on Deb’s site, which reportedly already has less mayonnaise than the original, still seems to have a crazy amount of it. I’ve reduced it to about a third of what she recommends and thought the slaw was perfectly creamy. I’ve reduced some of the other dressing components accordingly.

½ cabbage (about 1 pound), shredded fine (5-6 cups)
kosher salt
¼ cup chopped red onion
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ cup capers
¼ cup chopped cornichons, plus 1 tablespoon of the juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
6 tablespoons mayonnaise
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Toss the shredded cabbage and 1 teaspoon salt in a colander or large mesh strainer set over a medium bowl. Let it stand until cabbage wilts, at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours. Rinse the cabbage under cold running water. Spin the cabbage in a salad spinner until it’s dry or press, but do not squeeze, to drain it; pat dry with paper towels. Place the wilted cabbage in a large bowl.

2. Mix the onions, sherry vinegar, and sugar together in a small bowl. Let it set for about 15 minutes, then mix in the capers, cornichons, cornichon juice, mustard, mayonnaise, and pepper. Fold the dressing into the cabbage and serve, or refrigerate for several hours for serving.