Monday, August 3, 2015

carrot cauliflower corn slaw + honey mustard dressing



After a brief break from blogging, I'm back and punnier than ever. Since posting the chow creations' first ever video recipe a couple weeks ago, I've been purtey busy: I made a blue table, aced my sixth semester at college, and bought a fancy-shmancy strobe light, which only set me back $200. I'm still learning how to apply my newly found skills and equipment, so this post will be a test run on many fronts, especially the lighting. Forgive the lighting. 


You, like me, may be reading this with a mild case of the end-of-summer glooms. Well, gloom not my friends for this cauliflower slaw is the cure to all end-of summer ailments. In fact, this slaw is so easy and refreshing you'll be wondering why you waited this long to learn how to make it and why I waited so long to post it. The answer is simple. I'm a selfish lazy bastard. That's my problem, not yours. Rehashing the past is pointless. Going forward I promise I will be a good blogger, the type that posts every week with the reliability of heartburn after a jalapeno. 


Recipe
(yields enough for a potluck contribution)

5 medium-sized carrots, shaved
1/2 a cauliflower, cored and shaved
1 cup of fresh or frozen corn
1/4 cup of raisins
1/4 cup of yellow mustard, you can use any mustard you have
1/4 cup of honey
1/2 cup of mayonnaise 
lots of black pepper to taste


Preparation:
1. First is to wash and peel the carrots. Using a vegetable peeler, shave long ribbons of carrots into a large bowl. You'll find that when you're shaving the carrots, at some point the carrots will become to flimsy to use the peeler. The cores of the carrots are edible, so keep those on the side to snack on while you proceed with the rest of the recipe. Reserve the ribbons of carrot on the side while we prepare the other ingredients. You can cover the carrots with ice water so they stay crunchy. 


2. Cauliflowers are easy to prepare if you know how to prepare them (call me captain obvious). Here's how you prepare a head of cauliflower: (1) cut off any unnecessary leaves at the base of the cauliflower, (2) stick your paring knife into the core of the cauliflower and remove as much of the stem as you can, and (3) cut off several large bundles of cauliflower florets from the stem. For this recipe, you will only need half a cauliflower, but it won't hurt if you have extra cauliflower florets to stir fry over the course of the week. The last step is to shave the cauliflower. If you have a mandoline, this step will be easy. If you don't have a mandoline, use a knife to carefully slice the cauliflower. It doesn't matter how thin you end up getting the slices only that it isn't hard to eat for your guests. Add to the bowl of carrots. 


3. Presumably, you read the ingredients list beforehand and your corn has already defrosted. Either that, or you've opted to use fresh summer corn. Usually I would make it mandatory to use fresh corn, but this late in the season corn is getting expensive. For either scenario, prepare 1 cup of corn and add it to the previous ingredients. Add the raisins as well. Those of you with keen eyes may have noticed that I also put some shredded mozzarella in the slaw. It was a mistake. I can only hope you avoid the same cheesy road I went down. I don't mean to be dramatic. Just don't put cheese in this. 


4. My favorite dressing to eat and make is honey mustard. I think this affinity came to me as a child because my parents would always ask the waiter if they could have honey mustard instead of whatever the chef was preparing. As an adventurous child, I would always beg my parents to try the more exotic dressings, like pomegranate vinaigrette or charred corn husk dressing, but they always insisted on honey mustard. Whether it be genetics or my tastebuds have suddenly matured, honey mustard is now go to. It also happens to be one of the easiest dressings to make. All you need is equal parts of honey and mustard, and twice as much mayo. Season generously with black pepper. You might not need all of the dressing you make. Use the dressing wisely; any leftover dressing can be eaten with those leftover carrot cores and cauliflower florets. 


5. One of the good things about slaws is that you can make them days in advance. In fact, I would even recommend that you let your slaw soak up all those delicious flavors for at least 12 hours before serving. Not only will your slaw taste better, but it will be cold, crunchy, and refreshing. Serve with old-timey tongs and a smile. 


I hope this post was helpful to you guys. I'm genuinely sorry for not posting for four weeks. I will try to post more frequently, and I hope you all will be there at every post along the way. For now I bid you adieu to this slaw that I make for you. And as always, 

Chow!

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