No Mayo Coleslaw

Recipe courtesy of Marc Matsumoto. I enjoyed following him early in his career but his recipes didn’t account for prep time which made easy looking meals turn into way more complex ordeals. This is easy and another salad that works great when made a day before.

Ingredients:

• Note: You can just buy pre-shredded cabbage
• 1/4 small red cabbage
• 1/2 small green cabbage
• 1/2 carrot, shredded
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Mix wet ingredients before mixing with cabbage.

Carrot Raisin Slaw

Obligatory this is a recipe from “Down South” by Donald Link.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup plus 2 TB of mayo
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 lb carrots, peeled and shredded (about 4 cups)
• 2 cups of good quality raisins
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, minced

Directions

• mix mayo, curry, salt, cayenne and lemon juice.
• Fold in carrots, raisins and parsley
• Refridgerate for an hour or 4.

Note: Eat within 2 days otherwise the carrots get soggy.

Mustard Marinated Turnips

I don’t ever cook with turnips but I love mustard and pickled stuff. These are a good addition to your favorite pickled veggies, even though this isn’t a pickling.

Ingredients:

• 2 bunches of young turnip bulbs (about 1/2 lb) trimmed. You can use big ones and cut them up. Finding young small turnips can be a pain in the ass.
• 2 TB of whole grain mustard
• 2 TB extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions

Cut turnips in halves or quarters to make bite sized pieces.

Wisk remaining ingredients together in a bowl and then add the turnips and toss to combine. It says to marinate for 1-4 hours but make these the day before for best results. Even eating these a few days after are amazing.

Fresh Mint Couscous

Another one from “Down South” by Donald Link.

Ingredients

2 cups couscous

1/2 cup finely minced onion

1/2 cup finely chopped carrot

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup mint leaves thinly sliced

Directions:

• In a medium bowl combine couscous, 1/2 cup minced onion, 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot, 1 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper
• bring 2 cups of water to a boil and pour over mixture. Stir quickly with a fork, cover tightly with plastic wrap for 10 mins.
• Uncover and mix mint and olive oil with fork, fluffing up the couscous and breaking up any lumps. Serve warm or at room temp.

Cajun Macaroni Salad

Doing a side dish dump from the recipe book “Down South” by Donald Link. I love eating this as a quick snack.

Ingredients:

• Kosher salt
• 1 LB elbow macaroni
• 1 TB extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion minced
• 2 (recipe calls for 4) celery stalks cut into small dice
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 3 TB creole mustard (just add extra chili powder and cayenne to stone ground mustard)
• 1 1/2 cup mayo
• 3 TB red wine vinegar
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp of hot sauce such as Louisiana or Tabasco or more to taste

Directions

• bring large pot of water to boil, cook pasta, rinse under cold water.
• Transfer to large bowl, toss noodles with 1 TB olive oil
• Mix remaining ingredients plus 1/2 cup water and 4 tsp of salt
• taste for seasoning, adjust for salt and hot sauce then add noodles
• add extra water as needed for smooth creamy appearance

I’ve only been reading the ingredients and mixing to make this. You do not need the 4 tsp of salt with salting the pasta water and hot sauce.

do add chili powder and extra cayenne if you don’t have creole mustard.

Fried Rice

When you make rice make sure to undercook it/use less water also after it’s been refrigerated it’s easier to cook.

Simple steps:

• Fry aromatics such as minced ginger, onion in oil with any chopped veg such as carrots.
• deglase a bit with shaolixing wine
• Put in rice, chop and press it into the pan. (egg optional)
• Just before it’s done, throw some soy sauce just enough to color and a pinch of msg

Shrimp Remulade

Summer time staple for me. Just a small rant, this is out of the first cookbook I bought when I started cooking, Down South written by Donald Link. It is one of the most weathered pages in the book because I make it so much. This works great as a sub for tartar sauce also.

Most summer time get togethers I’ll make this along with tabbouleh and tzatziki. Not sure if I have tzatziki here but it’s literally just greek yogurt, lemon juice, dill, garlic and a little bit of salt. Serve with flatbread. Optional feta cheese for some texture.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of grated yellow onion (small holes on the grater)
• 1 cup of mayo, I use Hellman’s low fat
• 2 TB of whole grain mustard
• 2 TB fresh parsley (not dried)
• 2 TB chopped fresh tarragon or chervil (I use dry tarragon, works great)
• 2 TB of prepared horseradish
• 1/4 tsp of cayenne
• 1 tsp salt
• grated zest and juice of 2 lemons

Mix in a bowl.

Here is the optional way to cook shrimp, I just steam them for 3-4 mins until they’re pink and throw them under cold water in the sink but here’s the recipe from the book. I don’t like doing this shit because it takes forever to get the water to boil and then you have to have 2 gallons of ice.

Shrimps

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1 TB cayenne
• 10 bay leaves
• 2 lemons sliced
• 2 lbs of medium/large shrimp
• 1 cup sauce remulade
• 1/2 head of iceburg lettuce thinly sliced

Directions:

• Salt, cayenne, bay leaves and lemon in a large pot with 1 gallon of water, bring to a boil high heat
• Add shrimp and cook 3-3:30 mins until pink
• Immediately throw 2 gallons of ice in the pot to stop cooking.