Coleslaw with Orange Vinaigrette

From Chef Oonagh Williams of Gluten-Free Cooking with Oonagh

I grew up on fresh coleslaw and my father making homemade mayonnaise with a whisk for it rather than the regular buttermilk dressing in US. It tastes so good and is so simple, that I don’t know how restaurants can serve some of their coleslaws.

This dressing is tasty, tangy, simple and safe for those of you that can’t eat eggs or choose not to eat eggs/mayonnaise.

It is very tangy, so slowly add vinaigrette to shredded carrots and cabbage. You can always add more vinaigrette but can’t remove it. This dressing is good on many vegetables salads, spiralized apple salad, add to rice or quinoa salads, on asparagus with shrimp or crab. I buy the frozen canister of quality orange juice, decant into either a screw top container or ziploc bag and freeze. The orange juice concentrate doesn’t really freeze solid so you can spoon out what you need. Note that choices of different mustards, vinegars, oils, etc will all change finished flavor, not badly just different.

Ingredients:

For coleslaw:

• Coleslaw cabbage, shredded
• Fresh carrots, peeled and shredded
• Broccoli stalks, shredded, optional
• Red cabbage, shredded, optional

For vinagrette:

•  1/3 cup FullSun sunflower oil, or avocado oil or very mild tasting olive oil
• 3 Tbsp. orange juice concentrate, thawed (This is also good with a mango concentrate instead of orange: Perfect Puree of Napa Valley, Ca.)
• 1 tsp gluten-free dijon mustard, or honey mustard or spicy mustard
• 1/2-1 tsp sugar, maple syrup or honey
• 1 Tbsp. gluten-free cider vinegar, lemon juice or gf white wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• 3 inches of greens of the tops of 2 green onions, scissored smaller
• 2-3 Tbsp. fresh parsley, unchopped, just cut off stalks
• Consider using different fresh herbs: Mint, spicy basil, regular basil, celery leaves. Rosemary to go with a lamb meal. Cilantro with spicy mustard for Mexican dishes.

I like to add some sweet, juicy, fresh oranges or clementines to coleslaw and then add some of the zest to dressing. If you can’t get fresh, juicy oranges, don’t bother.  Canned mandarins don’t give the same burst of fresh flavor. Or fresh mango to go with mango puree, not frozen or canned mango.

Toasted almonds or other nuts for crunch.

Coleslaw cabbage shredded in food processor, fresh carrots peeled and shredded in food processor. Add broccoli stalks, use red cabbage, your choice.

Directions: 

1. Put oil, orange juice concentrate, mustard, sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper and herbs plus some orange zest if you have it, in clean jam jar that is wide enough for head of immersion blender.

2. Briefly run immersion blender to chop herbs and thicken (emulsify) the dressing. Taste and adjust flavor.

3. Stir in very light quantity of orange vinaigrette to cabbage mix at serving time.

I don’t like most coleslaws with any dressing added too far in advance. I don’t like coleslaw with dressing kept until next day–I think that just tastes nasty. Only add toasted nuts as you serve or they go soft.