CtBF -Raw vegetable slaw with creamy garlic dressing

Running a little behind – kind of the usual thing this time of year. I’ve probably explained before, but in any kind of retail construction, this is the busy season. We have to complete our construction so that the facilities can be in use on time, ensuring that all of our customers can fulfill all Christmas and Holiday wishes. I’m already worried about October and November, though also worrying about the heatwave in the west… there’s always something! But of course, it keeps me out of trouble – well, except it keeps me in trouble with my blogging. I get sidetracked on a regular basis.

For whatever reason, I didn’t get this salad made early. I did, however, make it on Friday – but then the weekend got away from me – mostly because we had a family get-together since one of my nieces was in town. Since I’d arranged it for someone else’s house, and I know she’d be craving Mexican food – that’s what I was up to on Saturday – with the festivities themselves on Sunday… so oh well!

Back to the yummy slaw. Because I am often behind, and sometimes a little lazy, I decided to take advantage of the pre-prepped veggies at the store. Cue slaw mix and broccoli slaw mix – I did manage to cut up a crispy apple into matchsticks, however. I also added the chopped hard boiled egg – a new twist for me. I’m not sure that it was particularly essential – but then again, I haven’t made this recipe without it. You’ll need about 6 cups of veg for the dressing with 1 c mayo.

The dressing is simple to prepare. The recipe says to let it sit for a couple of hours if you have them. I didn’t, but we’ll get back to that. The creamy version is a simple mixture of mayonnaise, red wine vinegar, quite a bit of garlic, a bit of dijon and a fair amount of black pepper.

We had this with some grilled steak for dinner – oh, with some fresh corn, grilled alongside. This was very good, and we enjoyed it. I liked the apple – it was a nice crunch, and reminded me of slaws growing up – my mom would add crushed pineapple. The broccoli slaw added some additional crunch. And I think that the option of adding toasted almonds was a good one. Though didn’t this time.

We ate this over a couple of days. And the flavors mellowed for the next day’s meal. That’s what made me remember that the dressing was supposed to sit longer. I thought both were good, and while some might be concerned about the high level of seasoning in the dressing – it both mellows with the wait, and gets calmed down a bit by all of the vegetables.

I may just make a bit more – and possibly try the vinaigrette option – it’s so nice to have a salad in the refrigerator to grab quickly on these busy summer days.

This is yet another great recipe from My Paris Kitchen by David Lebovitz. You can check out what our other Cook the Book Fridays bloggers thought about this recipe by following this link.