Cabbage, limes peanuts and cilantro: the makings of a cool dish for dinner.
On a hot sweaty day in which there was no way I would be turning on the stove or oven, I noticed a couple of small heads of cabbage that I picked up at the farmer’s market sitting in my fridge. The endless days of extreme heat were getting to me, I couldn’t think of a good use for my nice cool cabbages, so I reached out to my friends on Facebook with the question:
I’ve got some cabbages that are looking to be turned into coleslaw. What’s your fave recipe? I’m looking to bust out of a cole slaw rut.
Within less than an hour I had 26 suggestions, recipes and inspiring ideas.
My pal Mihoko suggested cooking in in a veggie broth and Nanette suggested a warm Asian slaw. Others posted their sauerkraut recipes. There was no way I was turning on the stove in my un-airconditioned house!
Adriana, a foodie friend from Brooklyn, passed on a recipe for Napa Cabbage Salad with Buttermilk dressing from the Smitten Kitchen I had no buttermilk in the house so that was out, but the Smitten Kitchen looked to be a cool site with great recipes.
Haruka suggested I try Okonomiyaki, Japanese pizza. You can eat loads of cabbage this way and add anything you like into it. I’d heard of it before from when my daughter visited Japan. She set me up with this recipe for Okonomiyaki on the Closet Cooking website. This Japanese pizza is definitely on the to do list but not for tonight.
Lynette said she does a thai peanut dressing, add lots of shredded carrots, fresh peapods with the slaw, toss over the top of some greens and you can even add some grilled chicken on the top if you are feelin carnivorous, throw on some chopped peanuts, and some sesame oil , and hmmmm, goood! Now this was getting closer to my idea of what to do with what I had on hand.
Larissa suggested shredded cabbage with lime juice and sea salt, as a side to tacos. Its too late to make a run for taco ingredients but will definitely file that one for another day.
Jill hit the nail on the head when she suggested Lime and Peanut Coleslaw from Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks website. I made a version of this slaw without the tomatoes ( because I didn’t have any), it came out light and yummy. Just the right light crunchy meal when it is too darn hot to eat.
I will definitely use this system again when I need some inspirations. My friends in cyberspace know good food!
One of my gardening Facebook friends just posted this one:
on the hunt for some new recipes. have lots of green beans, basil, cukes, zucchini, chard and kale in the garden. have a good recipe to share?
I wonder what she’ll come up with!
