coleslaw resurrected: crispy, pungeant, healthy.

If you serve my son a burger, he will say to you: “I cannot imagine a burger without blue cheese.” And then, while shaking his head from side to side, he will say: “it is soooooooo good.” He captures my heart; I am equally a fan of the pungent, pervasive, personalitied blue.

And I always am on the search for a quality coleslaw to resurrect the bad reputation sliced cabbage has earned from summery picnics and potlucks. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of a community table; but haven’t you met a pile of over mayo’d, unnaturally warm and soggy, out of a bag, well-worn slaw? Consider this: does the thought of coleslaw on the end of a fork make your cringe or lick you chops?

So imagine my trepidation when we went to dinner at a friend’s house and the beautifully marinated and grilled steak came plated with none other than coleslaw. Hold breath, insert fork, open mouth… seconds please? Maybe thirds? Oh, I forgot to take more the first time: uh, I didn’t believe coleslaw had redemptive value.

I am a believer, as blue cheese is my witness:

Blue Cheese Coleslaw
1 small head white/green cabbage
2/3 cup mayo
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 T whole grain mustard
2 tsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp celery salt
KS&CP (kosher salt & course pepper) to taste
2/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Slice Cabbage as thin as possible, removing cores. Blend mayo, mustards, salts, vinegar and pepper; stir dressing into cabbage, but do not drown it or heaven forbid: sog it (you can always add more dressing but you cannot take it out). Do not help promote the coleslaw stereotype. Add crumbled blue and parsley to blend. Will keep in fridge a few hours. You might want to tweak the amounts to your liking: I did.

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