Summer Spiral Slaw

Second crop of Seascape Strawberries

Hot summer days just scream fresh salads! The temperature in our house is bearable with the cross breeze from the ocean, but most evenings I really don't want to turn on the stove or oven. Right now the garden is producing lots of summer squash (multi-colored patty pans and several varieties of zucchini), cucumbers (Mercury and Diva in the greenhouse and Corentine in the garden for fermented dill pickles), early cabbage (Taiwan and Tiara), huge 'Easter Egg' radishes (that are surprisingly mild and not fibrous), scallions, 3 colors of bush beans, broccoli, figs (Desert King), fresh herbs (lovage, dillweed, oregano, rosemary), red romaine lettuce, Uncle Robert's purple potatoes, the end of the snap peas and the second crop of Seascape strawberries are starting. The garlic is cured, cleaned and cut with seed set aside for October planting. A busy time!

Garlic ~ cured, cleaned and trimmed

Taiwan Early Cabbage

I've given away a few of the fresh, early cabbage heads and one friend commented... "cabbage was on my shopping list, coleslaw is my favorite salad." Hmmm, that got me thinking because coleslaw is not a favorite of mine... BUT ...the early cabbage I grow is so sweet, delicate and tender that I snack on it while cutting or preparing it... so why not try a slaw with a twist (sorry, couldn't resist the pun!) 

Summer Spiral Slaw

With my favorite little spiralizer machine I 'zoodled' some yellow patty pans that got a bit big, a big radish, a seedless cucumber and a few carrots for texture and more color. I broke the vegetable noodles into  4-6" long pieces, tossed in some thinly sliced scallions and thinly sliced Taiwan early cabbage. 
Put the vegetable mixture into a bowl and poured over a recipe of my 'Paleo Vegetable Salad Marinade' posted last December. Let it sit for a few days and OMG, delicious!! Great as a side dish but I also drained some and used it instead of relish on a turkey burger, outstanding!! 
Instead of getting bored with the same old marinated vegetables, I gave this salad a summer twist with cabbage instead of cauliflower and spiralized all the other vegetables  that would have normally gone into the marinade (carrots, zucchini, cucumber, plus the addition of radish). Voila! ...a fun summer make over!

Until next time... Bon Appétit and have fun reinventing your salads!
Please stay healthy, be safe, wear a face mask and take good care...

Photos by Sally Rae
Recipes by Sally Rae