Coleslaw with Citrus-Cilantro Dressing

I love nothing more than cooking good food for friends which is why I tend to do the cooking on my own birthday. It makes me happy to share my favorite foods with the people I care about. This year, I am serving a number of the recipes that I’ve featured in this blog. I mean, there’s a reason why they’re my favorites.

The menu this year has a southern theme: Picnic Fried Chicken with an Heirloom Tomato salad (I may use feta instead of blue cheese. Both are delicious but some of my guests are blue cheese adverse. Sad, right?) and this fantastic Coleslaw with Citrus-Cilantro Dressing.

Cabbage is Good for You

Here’s the thing about cabbage. It’s really good for you. There’s a great book called The Color Code that basically talks about the benefits of eating a colorful diet for optimum health and cancer prevention. As someone who consumes a lot of green vegetables, I assumed that I had the “green” category covered, right? Turns out that most of my veggies like asparagus and green beans fall into the “yellow-green” category. Green vegetables are tough to come by, but they are one of the keys to good health. Luckily, cabbage, like the one is this awesome Coleslaw with Citrus-Cilantro Dressing, is a green vegetable.

Cabbage is Economical

The other great thing about cabbage is that it really delivers a lot of bang for your buck. One head of cabbage makes enough slaw for a small army. I am not kidding. It also keeps really well in the fridge even if you’ve already cut some off from the head. Just leave it in a plastic bag with the top unsealed and place it in your crisper drawer. When you bring it out, if there are any brown leaves, simply tear them off. The inside will stay crisp and fresh for weeks.

Raw Cabbage is Delicious

Personally, I am not a fan of cooked cabbage. It’s too sweet and it smells like stinky socks. But raw cabbage tastes delicious. There are any number of varieties, but for this Coleslaw with Citrus-Cilantro Dressing, I tend to use your basic Cannonball Cabbage. You know, the one that looks like a giant brussel sprout combined with Red Cabbage. I think it looks pretty and it hits two of the hard to get colors in The Color Code: green and red.

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Coleslaw with Citrus-Lime Dressing

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 6 cups cabbage thinly sliced
• 3/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped
• 1 t course sea salt or kosher salt
• 1/4 t fresh ground pepper
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 T freshly squeezed orange juice
• 3 T olive oil

Instructions

• In a large bowl, toss the cabbage with the cilantro, salt and pepper.
• In a small bowl or glass jar, combine the lime juice, orange juice and olive oil and whisk or shake to combine.
• Right before serving, pour the dressing over the cabbage and toss. Taste and adjust accordingly.