Coleslaw: The Perfect Winter Salad

According to The Seasonal Chef, the word “coleslaw” comes from the Dutch koolsla, which means cabbage salad. And while they make a point of insisting upon cabbage as a central ingredient, I like to think of coleslaw more as a crunchy salad mixture, open to anything that can be sliced into thin slivers, then dressed.

While I often make a ‘traditional’ coleslaw, with green cabbage, onions, carrots and mayonnaise, my new favorite is with fennel, apple, sesame seeds and rice wine vinegar for a vaguely Asian influence. I made some at Thanksgiving, for a light, fresh side dish that gave us a break from all that yummy rich food. Or there’s cabbage, apple, carrot, raisin with a sweet mayonnaise dressing for a nice take on a Waldorf, but without the nuts. Oh what the hell, toss some walnuts in too… Think green onions, think jicima, shallots, carrots, red or purple cabbage. Be creative- whatever is at the farmer’s market is bound to be reasonably priced as well as fresh.

Coleslaw is also a frugal recipe, as cabbage is not usually very expensive, nor are many of the alternatives. Not to mention that it is a great winter fresh vegetable dish, for all those times when leafy lettuce is out of season.

Here are some good, frugal coleslaw recipes:

• Salvadoran Avocado Slaw from Frugal Cooking
• Asian Coleslaw Recipe (very basic, but open to adaptation!) I use this as my dressing abse for asian inspired crunchy salads
• Ramen Coleslaw (one of my favorites, especially with a bit of chicken) from All Recipes
• Red Cabbage and Apple Salad (not so frugal, but good!) from About.com Southern Food

Feel free to share your favorite winter salad recipe, either here or in a link to your blog. (If you link back to this post from your blog, a link from here to your blog will automatically be added to this post, helping people find you. Cool, huh?)