red cabbage salad with green peas

This is a recipe that I adapted from one that my friend Colleen emailed me. Hers used radicchio and cider vinegar, but I didn’t have any radicchio—so this salad was born! Both recipes have peas in common, though! If you happen to have access to those fantastic fresh peas from the Valley right now, use them—or if you’re lucky enough to have frozen them last summer, make sure and use them! The frozen ones in the store are mushy compared with frozen Alaskan peas—ours taste sweet, delicious, and fresh, even out of the freezer. See the “peas” section for a method to process them for freezing.

If you don’t have red cabbage, you can use green cabbage, too—it’s pretty, still, with the different colors of green. Since this is a wilted salad, but the cabbage still retains some of its crunch, it’s great as a leftover salad the next day. I love eating this salad as a side to an avocado toast with balsamic vinaigrette and pickled red onions.

vinaigrette

¼ cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly-ground pepper
1-2 tablespoons honey

salad

½ a head of red cabbage, sliced very thin
1 ½ cups fresh or frozen green peas
½ bunch of scallions, sliced thin (or substitute ¼ cup of minced red or yellow onion)

1. Put the cabbage and scallions into a large salad bowl.
2. Combine all vinaigrette ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer to dissolve the honey and salt. Add the peas to the vinaigrette and cook for 1-2 minutes (maybe a bit longer if the peas are still frozen), just long enough to warm and cook the peas a little bit. Don’t cook them so long that they start to turn grayish-green; this is just to infuse them with the vinaigrette and soften the skins a little.
3. Pour the hot dressing and peas over the top of the cabbage and toss to mix well. The dressing will wilt the cabbage a little. Taste and add more salt, pepper, and honey as needed to make a vibrant salad.