Recipe: Mandarin cole slaw is an easy, flavorful winter salad
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The mandarins and dried cherries make this recipe
stand out. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)
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Winter salads make the most of in-season vegetables. For ingredients, there are plenty of lettuces, cabbages and other leafy greens plus root vegetables galore.
But what about the juicy fruit part of a balanced salad? Tomatoes usually play that role. But in January, a good-tasting tomato can be hard to find.
Mandarins make a great salad substitute. Their easy-peel segments are just the right size and juiciness, adding texture as well as bright citrus flavor. They work well with vinaigrette in a green salad. They’re also dynamite with cabbage in cole slaw.
This slaw started with my grandmother’s cole slaw recipe, which is good on its own. The addition of mandarins really made it sparkle.
Also adding texture and bursts of flavor to this slaw are dried cherries. Raisins will work, too; cherries contribute tartness to balance the sweet mandarins.
Easy enough for any time, this salad can be made the night ahead (covered and refrigerated) and is pretty enough for special occasions. Think of it as cole slaw supreme.
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This easy winter salad features citrus instead of
tomatoes.
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Makes 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients:
3 large mandarins
¼ cup dried cherries or raisins
2 green onions, chopped
1 medium carrot, shredded
1 cup Romaine lettuce, shredded
2 cups cabbage, shredded
Dressing:
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
Seasoning salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions:
Pretty and nutritious, too!
Peel mandarins and separate segments, removing any seeds.
In a large bowl, combine mandarin segments, dried cherries or raisins, green onions, carrot, lettuce and cabbage. Toss gently.
Prepare dressing: In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, seasoning salt and pepper.
Pour dressing over mandarin-cabbage mixture. Toss to coat. Serve.
Refrigerate covered if not served immediately.
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Dig In: Garden Checklist
For week of Sept. 24:
This week our weather will be just right for fall gardening. What are you waiting for?
* Now is the time to plant for fall. The warm soil will get these veggies off to a fast start.
* Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant. Tomatoes may ripen faster off the vine and sitting on the kitchen counter.
* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing.
* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.
* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees.
* Plant onions, lettuce, peas, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, bok choy, spinach and potatoes directly into the vegetable beds.
* Transplant cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower as well as lettuce seedlings.
* Sow seeds of California poppies, clarkia and African daisies.
* Transplant cool-weather annuals such as pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks and snapdragons.
* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials. That includes bearded iris; if they haven’t bloomed in three years, it’s time to dig them up and divide their rhizomes.
* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.
* Divide and transplant peonies that have become overcrowded. Replant with “eyes” about an inch below the soil surface.
* Late September is ideal for sowing a new lawn or re-seeding bare spots.