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Monday, 4 January 2016

Peanut butter and maple coleslaw with crispy bacon

Yeh I don't have a clue about Canadian food, all I do know is that maple syrup is a Canadian icon, and after binge-watching buzzfeed, I know that our ham-like bacon in England is known as Canadian bacon over there. Any excuse to give coleslaw an alliterating, funky name.
Coleslaw is something I'd so much prefer to make than some steamed vegetables. It seems so much less tiring and more fun to prepare veg to grate in the food processor raw than chop them up and just put them over boiling water. I also say it's healthier, but I rather cancel that out with the rich dressing and bacon.
If you don't have a food processor this will be a lot more work but it's certainly worth it. If you do have one, I hope you feel the same slight fright but mega satisfaction of shoving vegetables into the processor and watching them be completely massacred. The reason I find it scary is that once, ages ago, I made a coleslaw and used a knife to push the veg through, but the tip of it snapped off and I never found it in the pile of obliterated greenery.
Which is what I would have left this post at if I hadn't discovered, nearly 4 months later, how well peanut butter goes in the dressing. Seems to add to the ever-vaguer Canada/America theme. I use Reese's which is so delicious I buy it off the Internet in larger, and cheaper quantities in shops. Use whatever brand you like, but I do feel it should be smooth.
1)The amount of veg is really up to you, as is what type of veg you use, although cabbage and carrots are musts really. I use about half a head of sweetheart cabbage rather than a white one, just because I prefer the taste but any except red really would be fine, plus 3 large peeled carrots or 4 small and 3 sticks of celery, all finely grated in the processor. I also chop up about 3 spring onions finely- if you use onion I would really recommend a red one or spring one as a raw white one is far too strong.
2)Chop about 6-7 rashers of bacon into bits- I do this irresponsibly with a mezzaluna (moon shaped cutting tool) and throw them into an oiled pan and let them get really crispy.
3)Prepare the dressing- dressing is one of those things where there's not much point in giving measurements, as you taste it and add different amounts if you feel it needs it, but as a guide, use about 5 heaped tbsp mayonnaise, 1 of maple syrup, 1 of cider or white wine vinegar, 2 of smooth peanut butter a pinch of salt, the bacon fat, and some pepper. Mix it all together, taste if you want more vinegar or salt or syrup, and toss it into the salad, getting all the vegetables nicely slicked. You may not need all the dressing, because you don't want them to be too bogged down with dressing, you want the crunch and taste of the vegetables too.

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