Pomegranate and Pickled Shallot Vinaigrette

I've made this pomegranate and pickled shallot vinaigrette a couple times recently and it is worth remembering for winter salads (when pomegranates are in season), hence this post. If I don't record this idea, it will disappear into the ether as my mind continues its unending quest for new foods and flavors.

Pomegranate and Pickled Shallot Vinaigrette

Pomegranate and Pickled Shallot Vinaigrette

This is a simple dressing that I typically make (as you see in the photo above) in a nearly empty mustard container using up the dregs of mustard in that container. I love whole grain mustard a lot and have a constant supply of jars that I have nearly emptied.

FWIW, I use Plochman's Stone Ground mustard; it's reliably stocked here in town and it comes in a reasonable size for someone who goes through a jar every two weeks. At the restaurant we used Maille whole grain mustard, but even though I prefer it, we can't get it here in Central Oregon.

Although you can make this dressing in your blender, I find that making it directly in the mustard container using an immersion blender is most efficient. If you're serious about cooking, investing in a good (say Waring Pro) immersion blender is a worthwhile expenditure (currently less than $150). There are applications such as making salad dressings and smoothing out soup on the stove top for which it is an invaluable tool.

The following recipe yields about a cup of dressing, enough for 2-4 salads. It will scale in pretty much direct proportion. This recipe uses a classic vinaigrette ratio of 1 part vinegar to 2 parts oil. You can certainly adjust that to your taste. I find that the Sherry vinegar and the pomegranates have enough acidity that I want to tame it with a bit of sugar. I use agave nectar because it blends in beautifully. You could use any source of sugar: honey, brown sugar, maple syrup, etc.

1/3 cup Sherry vinegar
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon whole grained mustard
1 pickled shallot (see recipe below)
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
1 teaspoon agave nectar
1 pinch salt

Blend all ingredients well. The mustard will keep the dressing emulsified for a few hours. I find putting the lid on the mustard jar and shaking the dressing well will bring it back together, another reason I like the mustard jar method of making dressings at home. And of course, you can store any leftover dressing in the jar in the refrigerator.

Pickled Shallots

I never use a formal recipe for brines when I am making small batches of pickles. I make a brine that tastes good to me at the time and use that. For me, it's all about balancing acidity, sugar, and salt in a brine that tastes great.

Pickled Shallots

I start by peeling shallots, slicing them into rings, and placing them in heat-proof containers such as the half-pint canning jar that you see in the photo above. Then I make a brine that suits my taste, bring it to a boil, and pour it over the shallots to cover. The shallots can be eaten once they cool, but they do continue to get better as they sit in the brine. I make these pickles in small batches and I do not refrigerate them. I make no attempt to seal the containers either as this pickles are not designed for long storage. The jar that you see above, I made 4-5 weeks ago.

Basic Pickle Brine Ratio

Here is a basic pickle brine that you can use as the basis for your brine. Mix up a batch, taste it, and adjust it to your liking. You can flavor it with herbs and spices as you like. When I make pickles, I put fresh herbs directly in the jars with the ingredients to be pickled. When I use spices and dried herbs, I boil them in the brine for a while to extract their flavors.

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

This recipe makes a cup of brine. You can scale it in direct proportion for any amount of brine you desire. At the restaurant, we would make gallons at a time. We had a pickle shelf in our walk-in that was four-feet wide, six-feet tall, two-feet deep, and was loaded from top to bottom with pickles that we used for garnishes and on our charcuterie plates. There was almost nothing we wouldn't pickle in an effort not to waste a single thing that our producers brought to us.

Cole Slaw

It's been a very long time since I made cole slaw. This is most likely because it is something that I made or handled every day at the restaurant. We always served a big pile of tangy slaw with our exceedingly rich crab cakes, as a foil to the fat and as a palate cleanser. More importantly, making slaw daily let us use whatever vegetables our farmers were bringing to us, no matter the season. It always seemed important to give our loyal farmers a market for their fruits and vegetables.

Cole Slaw

My wife was scared of my slaw long ago when we met because she had known slaws only with gloppy mayonnaise-based dressings. I'm not a fan of this creamy slaw myself, so I always dress my slaw quite simply with rice vinegar and granulated sugar, with a bit of salt to taste. I can't give you a recipe for the dressing for I literally scatter a handful of sugar and a bit of salt on the vegetables and pour over a bit of vinegar. I mix it well and taste. If it needs more acidic bite, in goes more vinegar. If it is too acidic, a bit more sugar will balance it.

It's best to make your slaw early in the day to give the dressing time to wilt the vegetables a bit before dinner. Though it is delicious right away, it gets better with age, to a point. It helps to turn a new batch of slaw every couple of hours to redistribute the dressing. Although you can slice your vegetables with a food processor, I always use a knife. It takes work, but the texture is better and you can work on your knife skills at the same time.

While cole slaw derives from words meaning cabbage salad and while cabbage is the principal component, you should not hesitate to be creative with your slaws. Any fruit or vegetable that is firm enough to slice and that is edible raw is fair game. I made this one from white cabbage, cucumber, carrot, radishes, and an apple.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of the things that I remember having put in slaw, each one I made being a function of the season and what was on hand.

Cabbage: white, red, napa, Savoy, brussels sprouts

Firm Leafy Greens: cavolo nero (Tuscan black kale), kale, collards, gai lan (Chinese broccoli), bok choy, choy sum, endive, chicory, Swiss chard

Other Brassicas: broccoli, cauliflower, broccolini, stem broccoli, rapini, stem mustard. Broccoli and cauliflower stems are great in slaw, peeled and thinly sliced.

Root Vegetables: turnips, rutabagas, kohlrabi, carrots, horseradish, radishes (red, breakfast, daikon, Korean), hard winter radishes (watermelon, black, etc), sunchokes, crosnes, beets, celery root, sweet potatoes, parsnips

Other: asparagus, cucumber, cucamelon, fennel, celery, green beans, pole beans, shaved corn, peas, sugar snaps, snow peas, rhubarb, artichoke hearts and stems

Herbs: lovage, parsley, cilantro, chives

Squashes: summer squash, winter squash (butternut slices really well)

Peppers: I don't like the flavor of raw peppers in my slaw, but many people do. They are all fair game, spicy and mild alike.

Onions: yellow, white, red, torpedo, green, cipollini, leeks, green garlic, chives. Onions can dominate, so I only use little bits for complexity, typically red and/or leeks.

Hard Fruits: apples, pears, Asian pears

How off the wall can you get? I once did a slaw including napa cabbage, beets, fennel, and orange segments that I served with fennel pollen-dusted grilled trout. I tend, when using beets, to keep them sliced separately from the rest of the slaw and mix them in just at service, to keep them from turning the slaw entirely beet red, unless I am aiming for a red slaw for presentation purposes.

The things that I avoid for slaw form a much shorter list: tender greens (salad greens, mustards, spinach, etc.) that will not stand up to the dressing, really starchy things that are not great raw (potatoes, eggplant), watery fruits (tomatoes, berries, melons), peppers (out of personal preference, though a bit of habanero in a slaw can be awesome), okra, mushrooms, and shell beans.