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Mandarins make basic slaw supreme

Recipe: Mandarin cole slaw is an easy, flavorful winter salad

mandarins and dried cherries
The mandarins and dried cherries make this recipe
stand out. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)

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.

Cole slaw
This easy winter salad features citrus instead of
tomatoes.

Mandarin cole slaw

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

Plated salad
Pretty and nutritious, too!

Instructions:

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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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

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Garden checklist for week of July 13

Put off big chores and planting until later in the week when the weather is cooler. In the meantime, remember to stay hydrated – advice for both you and your garden.

* Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded. Water before 8 a.m. to reduce the chance of fungal infection and to conserve moisture.

* Water, then fertilize vegetables and blooming annuals, perennials and shrubs to give them a boost. Feeding flowering plants every other week will extend their bloom.

* Give vegetable plants bone meal or other fertilizers high in phosphate to stimulate more blooms and fruiting.

* Add some summer color. Plant petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds.

* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, winter squash and sunflowers. Plant Halloween pumpkins now.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushy plants and more flowers in September.

* Remove spent flowers from roses, daylilies and other bloomers as they finish flowering.

* Pinch off blooms from basil so the plant will grow more leaves.

* Cut back lavender after flowering to promote a second bloom.

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