This week, I got excited about a salad.
I know. This sounds like something that should be whispered in hushed, shameful tones to one’s religious leader. Or maybe it’s a loudly proclaimed cry for help to most Americans, but I can assure you that my mental health is about as stable as it ever was. Hell, maybe better after tasting this.
…An exercise in amazing…
There are very few things in this world that I love more than coleslaw. While I’m pretty sure I’ve said that about multiple things at multiple times in my life, this time I really mean it. Seriously. I’ll fight somebody for coleslaw, if it’s good enough. Sometimes even if it’s just mediocre.
Think about it. There’s very little that screams American BBQ or cookout or I’m gonna stab you if you take the last piece of fried chicken like a tart, yet creamy coleslaw. Cooling in the summer and a way to force vegetables on your kids.
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I go crazy over cookouts. No, really. I get really obsessive over cooking the right things or bringing the most memorable things to the party. There’s some weird part of my brain that hungrily feeds off of the praise of strangers (or even friends) when it comes to the preparation of food. I’m a junkie for it. I have to be the one with the most interesting thing at the potluck. It’s a point of honor or something. It might explain why I spent so long working in hospitality. It probably explains a lot of fucked up things about me.
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When was the last time you made everyone in your family happy? Go on; I’ll wait. Yeah, I can’t remember either. If you cook for your family, and I don’t mean just that whole nuclear family thing, I mean the WHOLE family, it gets even harder to remember when you bring food into the picture. It becomes the ultimate challenge, the unicorn you’ve managed to cross-bread successfully with… well, anything. It’s mystical and rare and hopefully pulls its own weight by getting drunk uncle so-and-so to stop telling fart jokes at the dinner table.
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I love pickled things. I hate the thought of actually pickling things. It’s quite a dilemma. Fortunately for all of us, it’s a dilemma that’s easily fixed.
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This is a fun little thing to throw together and easy with the right tools. Use a mandolin to cut the radishes into thin coins and then “matchstick” them, or show off your knife skills and do it the old fashioned way. If you have access to jicama or kohlrabi, I highly recommend matchsticking one of those and throwing it in the mix for some added body.
Use this slaw as a topping to white fish, chicken tacos, or in bulk as a side at your next cookout.
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