This recipe is thanks to a crate of fresh home-grown vegetables that my folks bestowed upon me on Friday. Having worked our way through tomatoes, runner beans, sweetcorn and cucumber yesterday, I reached the red cabbage bag and wondered what to do.
Looking for some inspiration online I was bogged down with the festive spiced red cabbage recipes which the internet is awash with, but they didn’t feel right for a warm summer’s day lunch. I wanted something lighter and more salad-y but which would be a meal in itself. So I pulled together this bunch of ingredients and here is what happened.
I’ll confess at this point that I have never, ever, cooked red cabbage in my life. And after having made this recipe, that’s not changed, as I’ve opted for using it raw. In fact, if you remove the Roquefort and eggs, then the base salad with dressing and walnuts would make a very straightforward, quick and tasty slaw-esque side dish.
It‘s also very quick to make and really easy due to the small amount of preparation. The chopping and slicing can be done whilst your poaching pan is heating up, then you add the walnuts and Roquefort as you poach the eggs.
The resulting salad is zingy with rich flavours and proved to be spot on for a fresh and filling summer lunch.
Red cabbage salad with roquefort and poached eggs
By Gavin Wren
Serves 2 as a main
PDF recipe card to download or print
Ingredients
½ a red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 shallot, halved and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Plenty of salt and pepper
50g walnuts, roughly chopped
100g roquefort
4 eggs
2 tablespoons vinegar for poaching – can be any sort, I use plain white vinegar.
Directions
Meanwhile, place the cabbage, shallot, olive oil, red wine vinegar and Dijon mustard in a bowl, season well and then mix very thoroughly.
Your poaching water is ready to use when the bubbles that form on the bottom of the pan are starting to rise up. If you’ve got a laser thermometer, it’s about 80ºC.
Gently break your eggs one by one and carefully pour the egg into the hot water, keeping as close to the surface of the water as possible. Cook for 4-5 minutes and if the water starts to simmer then turn the heat down slightly.
Spread the cabbage mix over two plates, then crumble the Roquefort and walnuts over the top.
Once cooked, lift the eggs out of the water with a slotted spoon and check the white has cooked on top before serving. Place a pair of eggs on top of each plate of salad.