Let me start my saying that I am a potato salad gal. Last year, Food Network magazine printed a booklet with 50 variations of potato salad. They ALL sounded good to me. Mayo? Yes! Mustard? Yes! Pickles? Sure! I like them all. I have also always considered coleslaw to be an unfortunate side dish. It often has too much mayo, too much sugar, and a weird, almost mushy texture.
When I came across this little recipe in Food & Wine magazine that I am about to share with you, I stopped and reread it. And here’s what got me, folks: peanut oil. Peanut oil makes everything taste better. If you are frying up something, you want to fry it in peanut oil. I was a bit surprised to see it in a coleslaw recipe. And there was no mayo. Hmmm, both of these factors intrigued me enough to give it a spin.
First, I ignored the laborious food processing of cabbage, carrots, etc in the original recipe. I like easy and I like my coleslaw chunky-style so I grabbed some packaged slaw and carrots at the store…
I chopped up some sweet onion and celery and threw it in…
And I sprinkled a bit of sugar on top. (Ok, maybe a whole lotta sugar.)
Next, I mixed up some vinegar, peanut oil, mustard and salt and brought it to a boil.
Then I poured it all over my veggies and gave it a good stir. (So pretty, those veggies!)
Then I threw it in the fridge overnight and drained it in the morning and voila!
In this case, I have it on a toasted ham and cheese sandwich. I have had this meal three times since I made the slaw and I think I might officially be obsessed. It also went quite well with the Vampire Steak I cooked up the day before.
Here’s the official recipe, y’all…
Overnight Slaw
(Adapted slightly from Food & Wine)
Ingredients
Two 10 oz. packages coleslaw mix
1/2 of a 10 oz. package shredded carrots
1 large Vidalia onion, diced
3 celery ribs, diced
1 cup sugar
1 cup distilled white vinegar
3/4 cup peanut oil
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp kosher salt
Directions
Mix coleslaw mix, shredded carrots, diced onion, and celery in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar, oil, dry mustard, and salt; bring to a boil. Pour the dressing over the slaw and toss well. Refrigerate overnight.
Just before serving, drain the slaw.
Serves: an army. (Probably about 8-10 as a side.)
Zen of BBQ 