Slaw doesn’t have to come in a bag, but convenience often beckons from the refrigerated produce aisle. “Buy us and save your knuckles,” say those little slivers of cabbage and carrot. “No need to scrape away on a grater or pull out the food processor, which you’ll just have to clean.”
But sometimes that generic bag of ingredients doesn’t, ahem, cut it. Red cabbage is often given short shrift in the bagged mixes. And if we want to make the slaws Steph Zervas of Millbrae enjoys, we’ll need to grate the red cabbage ourselves.
In response to a reader request, Zervas sent two red cabbage slaws. The first was developed by the Los Angeles Times almost 30 years ago as a copycat version of a popular red cabbage slaw or salad served by a chain called Clearman’s Northwoods Inn restaurants.
The recipe is heavy on both oil and vinegar — and salt. The version Zervas has calls for a whopping four teaspoons of regular salt and a teaspoon of seasoned salt. She says you can get by with one or two teaspoons of salt, plus the seasoned salt, and a version I found online calls for an even smaller amount.
You mix the salad and let it mellow for a while, which makes for an attractive, deep red dish.
Zervas particularly enjoys the red cabbage curtido, a version of a Salvadoran favorite she found in Sunset magazine a number of years ago. This slaw offers a little heat and will last up to a week in the fridge.
Ruth Sanders of Saratoga says she loves her adaptation of Stephen Lanzalotta’s “The Diet Code” cabbage salad. She doesn’t offer proportions, just general guidelines you can adapt to suit your tastes. “Toss shredded white and red cabbage and carrots,” she says. “Add minced parsley, chopped scallions and a simple vinaigrette. Season with sea salt, anise seed and dried mint. Toss and serve. At Christmas, I call this my Christmas cabbage salad because it is so colorful.”
