tagliatelle coleslaw with home-made olive-oil aioli – no croutons required

… this is a simple but rather pretty salad to have in your repertoire and a great way to use up cabbage, should you find yourself with too much cabbage… along with a luscious home-made aioli mayonnaise my secret ingredient to coleslaw is Heinz Salad Cream… just a little… to give it a bit of a twang… its one of those everyday items we may be embarrassed to say we have in the fridge but, like ketchup, has some very fine uses…

… i’ve made quite a potent aioli to go with it using some of the delicious Hojiblanca Extra-Virgin Olive Oil I blogged about earlier in the week… normally I would use a flavourless oil to make a mayonnaise but the extra virgin adds a deep richness to the sauce which, along with the added garlic make quite a punchy mayonnaise…

… i’m entering this salad into June’s No Croutons Required blogging challenge, hosted with such elegance this month by Jac from Tinned Tomatoes… the theme being ‘leafless salad’ which I think you’ll agree this more than qualifies for…

tagliatelle coleslaw with home-made olive-oil aioli
what makes this coleslaw extra-special however is the ribbons of carrot that make it feel like a bowl of tagliatelle and lifts it just above an ordinary coleslaw in a very pleasing fashion… I used a simple hand-held potato peeler to do this.

for the coleslaw
3 large carrots – stripped into ribbons
1 medium onion – very finely sliced
1 medium heart cabbage – sliced
a sprinkling of pine-nuts
3 tablespoons of home-made aioli
1 tablespoon Heinz Salad Cream
a squeeze of lemon juice

for the home-made olive oil aioli
1 egg yolk
1 clove garlic – crushed
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5fl oz hojiblanca extra virgin olive oil
a little white wine vinegar

– place all the sliced veg in a large bowl, sprinkle with the nuts and set aside

– place the egg yolk, garlic, mustard powder and salt in another large bowl and using a balloon whisk or an electric whisk slowly whisk the egg mixture together

– once combined add a small drop of oil and then whisk in – continue this gentle process until half the oil is used up at which stage add about a tablespoon of white wine vinegar and whisk in, this should loosen the mixture and allow you to move a little swifter

– now, with the whisk on a medium speed add the remaining oil in a steady gentle stream, you may need to stop occasionally to loosen the mixture with a little drop or two of vinegar

– once your mayonnaise is made add two large tablespoons to the vegetables and a third tablespoon of heinz salad cream, a squeeze of lemon juice and bring it all together – your hands is best for this

eat and of course, enjoy!