Rosie Makes A Most Excellent Red Cabbage Salad.

 Don't you love the patterns in nature?

Looks like a tree on LSD.

I picked up some endive when we were at FoodLion yesterday,

along with some gruyère cheese,

and red and green cabbages.

The endive was a sheer impulse buy.

What to do?

What to do?

 Red Cabbage Salad.
Oh.My.

First, I made a marinade for the red cabbage.

In a small saucepan,

combine 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

with 1 minced garlic clove and a few sprigs of fresh thyme leaves.

Give it a pinch of Kosher salt.

Bring to a simmer and then pour over a shredded red cabbage.

(I'm only using half a cabbage because that's all I have.)

Toss to combine.

Let marinate at least one hour.

I left mine for about 5-6 hours while I did other stuff.

Every now and then, I came in and tossed the cabbage.

Toast a cup or so of walnuts.

Toasting intensifies the flavor of the nuts.

Gather a Granny Smith apple.

Or two.

And now make a dressing:

Dressing for cabbage salad:

 1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

2/3 cup grapeseed oil

pinch Kosher salt

a few grinds of pepper

Whisk the vinegar and mustard until well combined.

Very slowly, drizzle in the oil,

whisking constantly to incorporate the oil.

Stop drizzling.

Whip the mixture so there are no oil ribbons.

Then drizzle in more oil for a bit.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Make an emulsion!

Now that's an emulsion!

What a bright dressing!

Tangy!

I gave it a bare pinch of Kosher salt

and a few grinds of pepper.

Whisky.Whisky!

Remember to keep tossing the red cabbage.

It gets to a wonderful color.

Before you're ready to serve, pour out the marinade.

I'm saving this for something else.

Don't know what yet.

Here's the basic salad:

shredded, marinated red cabbage

toasted crumbled walnuts

Granny Smith apples, cut into matchsticks

Gruyère cheese, cut into matchsticks

endive leaves, sliced into strips,

a few whole endive leaves

Spoon some of the dressing over and toss.

I loved this.

It was bright.

It was tangy.

It was nutty.

It was appley.

It was cheesy.

It was all my favorite things.