What do you do when you have time to spare? Smoke some baby back ribs on the Big Green Egg. Ed follows the 2-2-1 process. That’s two hours to smoke, two hours wrapped in foil with beer to steam, and finally one hour uncovered with BBQ sauce. It may take five hours but it is so worth it. I wish I could share the smell with all of you. Oh, and the ribs, too.
When I asked what he wanted to accompany them, he said “coleslaw, but not the mayonnaise kind.” I first made this coleslaw for our last Boxing Day dinner at my brother’s to accompany some wonderful Sous Vide Chicken Tacos we had made.
It’s simple to make and has a nice bright vinegar flavor to it. For ease I buy the pre-chopped coleslaw bags at the grocery store and add onion, red pepper and cilantro to the mix. In this case I could only find the Asian slaw mix comprised of napa cabbage and carrots. Typically I’d look for a mix of green and purple cabbage with carrots. But either variation works just fine.
You can make the dressing up to a day in advance. The key is to lightly dress the cabbage mix an hour before serving so that the flavors can marry. If needed you can add more dressing just before serving. When using a vinegar-based dressing a little goes a long way, so take care not to over dress initially. You may have some dressing leftover that you could use for a green salad or another batch of coleslaw.
This coleslaw pairs well with both tacos and ribs. It’s great for Cinco de Mayo and the upcoming outdoor eating season.
| Mexican Coleslaw | | Print |
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (~ 1 lime)
- ½ teaspoon honey
- 1 medium garlic clove, finely minced
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 to 5 cups shredded cabbage mix (10 to 12 ounces)
- ½ red pepper, chopped
- ¼ red onion, chopped
- ½ cup roughly chopped cilantro (1 small bunch)
- In a medium bowl, whisk red wine vinegar, lime juice, honey, garlic, cumin and sea salt.
- Slowly whisk in olive oil until emulsified.
- Taste and add a bit more salt, if needed.
- Dressing can be made a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator.
- In a large bowl mix cabbage mix, red pepper, red onion and cilantro.
- About an hour before serving, lightly dress cabbage mixture. Don’t overdress – it’s okay to have extra dressing.
- Let sit at room temperature. Add more dressing if needed just before serving.
Yummy and easy served with crab cakes on my birthday yesterday. Leftover dressing made a wonderful marinade for grilled salmon this evening.
Susie – So glad you liked it! And, love that it was part of your birthday dinner!