Here is an autumn salad that fills you up without weighing you down: raw red cabbage, sliced as finely as possible, meets the sweetness of pear and the crunch of walnuts. The whole thing is coated in a creamy French dressing, brought together simply by shaking a jar. The walnut crumble goes on at the last moment, so it stays properly dry under the tooth.
Cabbage and pear salad with walnut crumble and creamy French dressing
Share this article
Activated whole nut puree
€15.90 AVAILABLE IN NOVEMBER
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1 medium red cabbage, finely shredded
- 1/2 onion, very finely sliced
- 4 to 5 celery sticks, thinly sliced on the diagonal
- 1 to 2 ripe pears, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup walnuts, roughly crushed
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp onion powder
- Salt and pepper
For the creamy French dressing
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup cider vinegar
- 2 pinches dried tarragon
- 2 pinches mustard powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- Sea salt, to taste
- 2 pinches lemon pepper
- 2 tsp medjool date paste (or another sweetener)
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
Preparation
- In a large bowl, mix the red cabbage, onion, celery and pears.
- In a small bowl, combine the crushed walnuts, nutritional yeast, onion powder, salt and pepper: that is the crumble.
- Pour all the dressing ingredients into a sealed jar and shake vigorously until the mixture is even.
- Coat the salad with the dressing just before eating, then scatter the walnut crumble over each plate at the moment of serving.
Tip
Shred the red cabbage as finely as you can, on a mandoline if you have one: that is what makes the difference between a pleasant salad and a dish that is hard to chew.
The full range Oilseeds, nuts, seeds
20 products
Discover the full range
FAQ: your questions about red cabbage salad
What is the recipe for a raw red cabbage salad?
The skeleton is always the same: red cabbage shredded as finely as possible, a sweet element, a crunchy element, an acidic dressing. Here it is pear, walnuts and a cider vinegar dressing. Elsewhere it will be apple, raisins and a yoghurt sauce, or orange, pumpkin seeds and a cumin dressing. The common point is the resting time: a quarter of an hour under the dressing is enough to soften the cabbage without making it limp. And do not forget the salt, which speeds that process up.
What dressing recipe suits a red cabbage salad?
Raw red cabbage needs a frank dressing: its density swallows anything too discreet. Allow three parts oil to one part cider vinegar, a spoonful of mustard to emulsify, and a little sweetener — maple syrup, date paste as here — which softens the cabbage's bitterness. Dried aromatics work better than fresh ones in this context: tarragon, paprika and onion powder stand up to the vegetable. A sealed jar and ten seconds of shaking are enough to bring it all together.
What can pear be paired with in cooking?
In savoury dishes, pear gets on first of all with nuts — walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans — whose slight bitterness answers its sugar. It also likes bitter leaves such as rocket, endive or chicory, and raw cabbages, as in this salad. On the spice side, cinnamon, cracked pepper and ginger suit it well. Only one precaution: choose it ripe but still firm, otherwise it collapses under the knife. And slice it at the last moment, with a few drops of lemon if you have to wait, so it does not brown.
Share this article
