rainbow superslaw

Life gets crazy busy - every season a bit more full than the last. When my kids were tiny I imagined that once they were more independent life would be easier. And it was.... in a way. Less hands-on with things like doing up buttons and zippers, getting food from bowls to mouths and bodies into beds but still complicated as I learned to navigate the intricacies of homework and after-school lessons - busy-er not less so. As we progressed through the teen years and on into university, then marriages and babies of their own I have realized that life doesn't slow down, it speeds up. As I move through the experiences of my life I know that I want to continue to experience personal growth. To be better, wiser, smarter, more skilled. That takes time and thought and effort. Doing that and keeping up with the people that mean the most to me means I have to run pretty fast some days. 

One of the things that gets left in the dust of the party of life is the small effort of sharing some of what I put on the table each day. Not that what is on our table every day is worthy of being shared but there are a lot more recipes I have been excited about than I share. If I could sit down right away and tell you how fun it was to try this or that, to share how well it was received and how delicious it was, how I made it easier, or even the laughable less-ables there would be a lot more posts. But I am usually running off to keep up with myself and some of the recipes that are really well worth sharing are neglected. This is one of those.

I saw this recipe in Everyday Food magazine and added it to the list of things that look good to me. That was last fall. I finally made it a few weeks ago for David's birthday dinner and after the first mouthful I really wished I had tried it earlier because we could have been eating it months ago! I love a good slaw and this is one of the best I have tried. Full of wonderful flavours and textures but most importantly, good healthiness. The cherry on the top is that it is really beautiful. The original recipe is Jamie Oliver's so you know it's going to be good :) 

Everyday Food recommends using a food processor and grating all the ingredients into the bowl in a prescribed order. My food processor while not small, is not large enough for that technique so I modified it. I used pecans instead of walnuts because of walnut allergies. Other than that, I followed Jamie's lead. Why mess with excellence?!

rainbow superslaw
(from Everyday Food and Jamie Oliver's Great Britain by Jamie Oliver)

2 raw medium sized beets, trimmed and scrubbed
1/4 red cabbage
2 large carrots
1/4 green cabbage
2 firm pears
1 cup pecans, roughly broken
2 large handfuls fresh curly parsley, chopped

dressing:
1 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp grainy mustard
3 Tbsp cider vinegar
6 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Worcestershire sauce
sriracha hot sauce

Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Shred or coarsely grate the cabbages and carrots into a large bowl. Grate the pears and add to the bowl. (To grate the pears I used a finer attachment.) Add about 1/2 of the chopped parsley to the bowl. Grate the beets into a separate bowl to keep them from staining everything.

Pour the dressing over the cabbage, carrots, and pears. Toss lightly to combine roughly. Add about 1/3 of the shredded beets and toss very lightly to keep the colours bright and separate. Arrange the mixed vegetables on a platter. Top with the remaining beets, followed by the rest of the parsley and finishing with the broken pecans.

Take a minute to enjoy the beautiful perfection of healthy, delicious food - then dig in!