Dill Cole Slaw

There are two kinds of home cooks: those who enjoy the process and those who consider it to be a chore. Granted, there tends to be a direct relationship between amount of time and level of enjoyment. For some, cooking is a chore, no matter how much time there is and if you’re reading this, chances are you’re not in that group.

For Lulu, my dearest friend from WAY back, cooking was just another chore while her kids were growing up. A few years ago, she began enjoying both cooking and baking. I’m glad. I have another reliable source for recipes that are high on the ease factor as well as the taste barometer.  She’s the one who came up with adding lots of chopped fresh dill (or dried dill, if the fresh stuff isn’t around) to a straight-on coleslaw and then I tweaked it just a bit more (because tweaking is in my nature).

That’s half of a large head

Lulu and I met in the second grade. She had a best friend. I had a best friend. And we were instant enemies. Not a word passed between us. In the fifth grade, I sat behind her all morning. She had long thick hair which she wore in a low ponytail with a wide barrette. And she was a perfectionist. Every day I would watch her, inches in front of me, as she smoothed and re-smoothed her hair with both hands to ensure that every (and I mean every) strand was dutifully in place. I stared.  I fidgeted. I wanted to scream. “Will you cut that out already!” Why was I not paying attention to the teacher? Never mind that.

At the end of the year, both her best friend and my best friend left the school.

It was fate. It was destiny. On the first day of sixth grade we looked around. We looked at each other. “Why not?” we both said to ourselves and shrugged. And that was the beginning of a bond that spans across a continent and across decades.

So don’t thank me for this one, thank Lulu (tenks, dahlink).

Ain’t this pretty?

An excellent sub for mayonnaise

And when I do use mayo it’s my favorite Best Foods (aka Hellman‘s on the East Coast) all the time.

In support of slaw

Dill Cole Slaw

Ingredients:

Directions:

Use the shredding disc on your food processor – use a good sharp knife – buy a package of pre-shredded cabbage – one way or another get some shredded cabbage into your  kitchen and place in a large shallow bowl (the better to mix with, my dear).

Add one shredded carrot and two thinly sliced scallions to bowl.

Mix in mayo, mustard, lemon juice, oil, and salt and pepper. Add dill and stare at how beautiful it looks. Stir well and add pinch of sugar. Adjust seasonings to taste.

This is a great do-ahead dish. But if you’re serving it that day, let it chill so the ingredients can marry (I like to say that).

Serves 6-8.

Dilled-up cole slaw