No-Recipe Winter Slaw with Dreamy Orange Tahini Dressing

This may or may not be news to you, but a really good slaw is easy to make when you’ve got the foundation of nicely shredded vegetables and great dressing. Come fall/winter, and all my butter lettuce and baby green salad cravings get replaced with colorful slaw cravings. Slaw just feels more suitable to winter to me, probably since I can make it with more seasonally appropriate vegetables like winter greens, cabbage, grated raw squash, carrots, apple, etc. Nature tends to provide us with exactly what we need during different times of the year, and I always try to listen to that by taking advantage of what’s in season. It’s also just exciting to switch it up. So, winter slaw will be taking the place of other salads on our table for the next few months. Maybe you want to join in and give it a try as well? Or maybe you’re a slaw expert already. What this post is really about is the orange tahini dressing that will make any shredded raw vegetables shine, and also a little bit about the sad yet exciting fact that we are selling our home with my dream kitchen.

So, the dressing is a dreamy combination of fresh orange juice, tahini, garlic, and other flavor stars like mustard and miso, as well as some toasted poppy seeds. I’ve been on a real poppy seed kick lately, and I find that they add the most satisfying, tiny firework-like pop (and a nutty flavor) to an otherwise smooth concoction. What I’ve decided to do here is to give a recipe for the dressing, as well as a non-recipe for a wintery slaw. The slaw can be composed of almost any vegetables that taste good raw. The key is to shred them really well, since tiny, delicate ribbons of veg really make the whole experience that much more pleasurable. A sharp knife works for this, but having a mandoline with different blade attachments is especially helpful in this case. Add in some pomegranate jewels or something crunchy like toasted or candied nuts/seeds, and you’re in for a really great salad component to whatever other cozy winter fare you’re enjoying at the moment.

No-Recipe Winter Slaw with Dreamy Orange Tahini Dressing

 

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Ingredients

for the orange tahini dressing

• 1½ tablespoons poppy seeds
• juice from 2 navel oranges
• ½ cup tahini
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon miso
• 1 clove of garlic - roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey, or more to taste
• splash of apple cider vinegar
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• splash of water for thinning
  
  

for the slaw - use any combination of the following

• kale - finely shredded with a knife
• pinch of sea salt - for massaging the kale
• red cabbage - shredded with a knife or mandolin
• carrot - shredded or ribboned
• raw butternut squash - shredded
• raw sweet potato - shredded
• raw brussels sprouts - shredded
• raw beet - shredded
• apple - shredded
• pear - ribboned or shredded
• fennel - shredded
• pomegranate seeds
• toasted or candied nuts/seeds

Instructions

to make the orange tahini dressing

1. Toast the poppy seeds on a dry skillet over high heat. Remove from the pan as soon as the seeds become fragrant and start popping. These toast up fast, so take care not to burn them.
2. Combine the orange juice, tahini, dijon, miso, garlic, olive oil, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, and water in an upright blender and blend until smooth. The consistency of the dressing should be creamy but not too thick. Thin it out with more water if needed. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust if necessary. This recipe makes extra. This dressing is excellent on pretty much anything :)
   
   

to make the slaw

1. Prepare a large salad bowl. If using kale, place it in the bowl along with a pinch of salt and massage with your hands for a few minutes to break it down a bit. This will make your kale chewing experience so much more pleasant!
2. Add all the other vegetables you are using to the salad bowl, along with the pomegranate seeds (if using), and candied nuts/seeds. Mix well to combine. Add the orange tahini dressing bit by bit and mix, until the slaw is well dressed. Enjoy right away. Keep the dressing and the vegetables separate if making ahead. The fully dressed slaw is best the day of, though it will keep in the refrigerator for a few days.

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