Happy Independence Day week! Shop the market Tuesday this week for all your holiday gathering needs.

Farmers will have a variety of meats for your barbecue. Blueberries make naturally-colored holiday-themed food – serve them plain and fresh, in pie, in scones, or in a unique bisque. Potato salad is a classic Fourth of July dish. I haven’t seen any blue potatoes at market this year, but you can mix red and white in either Granny Bettye’s Potato Salad or New-Potato Salad with Hazelnuts. Roast your potatoes for the best color.

If there’s another dish or ingredient you’d like to try, use the search bar at the top of the main Blog page. I’m adding additional recipes each week from the original blog archives.

Another classic summer and July fourth dish is coleslaw. Recipes already on the blog include Apple Cole Slaw (apples should be at market soon) and Hot Cabbage Slaw. The coleslaw our family makes is a versatile recipe, using both ingredients in season and items from the pantry. It’s colorful and always a little different.

This is another recipe from our well-worn copy of the Moosewood Cookbook. For the batch pictured, Jeffrey (he’s generally our coleslaw chef) used the basic ingredients listed below, plus the optional red onion, coconut, and pineapple. I added chopped herbs as garnish. We were out of poppy and sesame seeds, but both are usual additions for us.

We’ve found that coleslaw is best made the day before (but we’ve made plenty of last-minute batches), except if we want to use apples. They brown, despite the vinegar, so are best added when serving. We’ve tried yogurt in addition to or in place of mayo as suggested, and we prefer only mayonnaise. Using a combination of purple and green cabbage makes the most colorful slaw. We usually use apple cider vinegar and honey, and when our kids were little tended to use more honey and less vinegar. Now that they’re older they’ll eat it less sweet, but we still don’t make it too tangy.

Photos by Zachary Cross

Coleslaw Formula

Based on the Coleslaw Variation of Carrot-Yogurt Salad

From The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen

Ingredients:

4 cups shredded cabbage (we like to use a mix of green and purple for a lovely color)
2 large carrots coarsely grated.
1 to 2 Tbs. apple cider vinegar (or your favorite vinegar – Jeffrey used rice wine and cider)
1 to 2 Tbs. honey (optional – we recommend the honey)
½ cup mayonnaise, plus more as needed for desired consistency
Salt and pepper to taste

Optional Ingredients:

Use half firm, unsweetened yogurt (we prefer all mayo, but everyone’s tastes are different!)
1 Tbs. poppy seeds or toasted sesame seeds (we like both, separately and in combination)
¼ cup shredded unsweetened coconut (we use dried untoasted, Mollie recommends toasted)
½ to 1 cup finely chopped pineapple, fresh, frozen, or canned (we usually use this)
½ cup minced red onion (briefly blanching takes the bite out of the onion)
½ cup very finely minced celery

Additional options that we do not generally use:

Pinch of celery seed
Handful of raisins or currants (add right before serving; will get squishy over time, FYI)
2 medium-sized tart apples (add right before serving; can get brown over time)
¼ cup minced almonds or cashews, lightly toasted (yummy but can get squishy over time)
½ cup minced green onion

Combine all ingredients (except those best added at the last minute) and mix well. Chill. Drain as necessary before serving. Garnish with chopped herbs such as parsley, chives, cilantro or your favorite. 

Printable recipe here