NUTTY SHREDDED REDS With ROASTED GARLIC TAHINI DRESSING

Have you ever found yourself in a rut – when it comes to your meal-making efforts?

You know, same recipes… week after week… month after month.

It happens to the best of us.

Around here, we had been starting to see a lot of Vegetable-Lentil Soup… Three Bean Chili…

And on those WHAT!-IS-IT-SIX O’CLOCK-ALREADY? days:  canned sardines on toasted heavy dark rye bread, topped with sweet onion slices. (That’s a balanced meal… isn’t it?  Sort of?) 

THIS year, I decided, to “mix it up”.  My goal is to introduce into my menu planning one new recipe each week.  (I also plan to share the good ones with you!)

I tried a brand new recipe last week.  EEK.  Please don’t make me talk about it.

But THIS week's recipe is a whole other story!

Introducing. . .

NUTTY SHREDDED REDS

ROASTED GARLIC TAHINI DRESSING

1 whole head garlic

2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil

¼ cup tahini

3 Tbsp. lemon juice (half a lemon)

2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

1 tsp maple syrup

¼ sea salt

Generous pinch of cayenne pepper

Water

SHREDDED REDS

3 cups coarsely shredded red cabbage

1 head shredded radicchio

 4 red or green Belgian endives, trimmed and separated into leaves

1/3 cup walnut halves, toasted (5 -10 minutes @ 350  ͦF.)

½ cup dried goji berries or cherries

First things first.  You’ll notice the recipe will call for a whole head of garlic.  DON’T freak out.  It will be fine.

In fact, it will be more than fine.  It will be FINE-TASTIC!!! (I just made that up, tee-hee.)

Garlic, when roasted, has a way of mellowing out like a vacationer…at a Cuban resort… with a Mojito in hand.  (We here in northern Saskatchewan just got dumped on with a fresh heap of snow.  So, today I’m dreaming of Cuba...  Sigh.)

But OMG! The moment you taste this garlic infused dressing, you’ll want to scoop it all into a bowl and gobble it up with a spoon as a dessert.  Try to resist. 

 Here's what you do:

• Preheat oven to 400 ͦF.
• Roast garlic. Here, you have two options.

1. You can slice the top of the garlic head to expose cloves, place it in a small baking dish, drizzle the top of the cloves with olive oil, add about 1/3 cup of water to the dish, and cover the whole thing tightly. Bake it in the oven for 40 - 50 minutes or until cloves are soft.   OR,
2. If the head crumbles apart when you slice the top (like it did for me), gather the whole mess into a small sheet of foil, enclose, and put to roast. This works, too.  Using this method, it may be done in half an hour (so check once in a while.)

Remove garlic from oven when done.  Cool.

• Remove garlic cloves from their skins and add into a blender or processor along with all the other dressing ingredients. Whirl until smooth.  Add enough water to give this dressing a pourable, smoothie-like consistency.   If not using it immediately, transfer it into a jar or small glass container and refrigerate.  It will stay yummy for up to a week.

• Bring sauce pan of water to a boil. Remove from heat.  Add cabbage and immediately drain in a sieve.  Plunge into ice water.  (This will ensure the cabbage is bright coloured and crisp – and will turn the water into a super cool shade of blue.)  Give the sieve a shake first, then transfer cabbage to a salad spinner to remove remaining water.

• Place cabbage in a large bowl. Add radicchio and Belgian endive.  Toss gently.

• Drizzle with the awesome Roasted Garlic Tahini Dressing, and garnish with the nuts and berries.

When I made this recipe I didn’t have any radicchio and endive in the house, so I omitted it, creating a sophisticated gourmet coleslaw of sorts.  It also occurred to me that the dressing would pair well with steamed cauliflower.  The possibilities are limited only to your imagination!

Got any favourite recipes?  Don’t be too shy to share!