Blue Cheese Cole Slaw with Green Apple and 7 Tips for Making Cole Slaw

Blue cheese cole slaw with a touch of green apple made with dijon mustard is delight to all the senses. Before you taste, your nose can smell tang of the blue cheese and mustard. The green apple brings a tart crunch, while the cabbage, one super healthy vegetable,  is the deliverer of all this salad goodness.

The blue cheese takes what might be an ordinary cole slaw and makes it dinner party presentable, especially for dishes that are a bit plain, like a roasted piece of fish or a pork loin. I used Ile de France Roquefort which is quite salty and tangy, so a little goes a long way, but even Mr. Spinach Tiger who doesn’t like blue cheese totally loved this cole slaw. Let’s see. When we got married, he told me no beets, no sweet potatoes, and if you were to ask him now, he would name a few of his all time favorite dishes here that have beets and sweet potatoes, but I never thought I could ever get him to eat blue cheese.

This had me contemplating flavor profiles this week, and taste buds and why one might like an ingredient in this dish, but hate it in that dish or hate it when eaten by itself, but love it when it’s mixed with other ingredients. The other ingredients he hates are mustard and mayonnaise. This dressing is a 60/40 ratio of dijon mustard and mayonnaise and he still loved it. This gets even funnier. The person that gave me the cabbage (Bobby from Burns Farm) came for dinner and he was clear that he was not a fan of cabbage and, yet, when I made the cole slaw, he liked it. This confirms what I’ve always believed.

There are no unworthy foods. There are unworthy recipes and unworthy executions. We’ve all had stinky cabbage, and green apples that were just too tart, and salads we couldn’t eat because they were too vinegary. This blue cheese cole slaw with green apple is a worthy recipe, an easy recipe, a healthy recipe and of very tasty and perfect for summer.

A Few Tips on Making Cole Slaw

1.  Cabbage and celery sop up moisture. Make the cole a few hours in advance. It gets better.
2. The heat of the mustard which makes this cole slaw tends to get milder as the cabbage absorbs it. Go stronger than you think you should.
3. Cut FRESH cabbage yourself and cut to your own taste. I slice with a knife into larger shreds than you find in a bag. I think this method absorbs LESS liquid and I enjoy the crunch.
4. Feel free to skip the blue cheese and add in other flavorings such as dill or celery seed.
5.  Most cole slaw recipes have sugar and celery seed. I don’t make any salads with sugar, but feel free to add it if you must.
6.  Use this recipe more as a guide. You might need more dressing, but before you add more, use your hands and thoroughly mix. The cabbage takes less dressing than you think.
7.  Ask yourself what you are serving this with. If it’s topping a pork sandwich, chop it up much finer. If it’s for a side salad, leave it nice and chunky as I did. You can add a few herbs on top to aid your presentation. Simply, make it your own.

So tell me, what is the one ingredient you used to hate and then a dish changed your mind?