BLT Slaw - Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato Cole Slaw | The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures

RECIPE: BLT Slaw With Bacon, Lettuce, Tomatoes & More!

May 16, 2015 at 9:31 am · Filed under Recipes, Vegetables-Salads-Herbs

bistro-blt-slaw-safeeggs-230r
A BLT salad with blue cheese and avocado in
addition to bacon, lettuce and tomato. In this
photo, the tomato is blended into the
dressing; but we added extra cherry
tomatoes as a garnish for a pop of color.
Photo courtesy SafeEggs.com.

We tend to use either shredded cabbage (packaged cole slaw) or romaine as a base for our lunchtime salads, loading them with an assortment of whatever ingredients we have on hand. But we never thought to combine the two until we saw this recipe for BLT Slaw.

In the basic, the tomato of the “BLT” is blended into the dressing. But we added extra cherry tomatoes as a garnish for a pop of color.

WHAT’S A SLAW?

Long part of the culinary repertoire, “koolsla” or “koolsalade” in Dutch means cabbage salad. Cabbage, the “kool” is pronounced “cole.” “Sla” is short for “salade.”

Instead of being pulled into bite-size pieces like lettuce, the cabbage was sliced.

The term got anglicized in the 18th century as cole slaw (and sometimes, cold slaw). Over time, shredded cabbage slaw was joined by other options, like broccoli and carrot slaws. In English, “slaw” came to specify a salad of shredded vegetables.

We adapted this recipe from one called Bistro BLT Slaw on the SafestEggs.com website.

The recipe accessorizes slaw with not just with bacon and tomato, but accents of avocado and blue cheese. Blended with a homemade, mayo-like slaw dressing, this combination of fresh flavors is high in fiber and low in carbs. (If you don’t offer extra dressing in Step 4, it’s lower in calories, too.)

You can also add diced chicken or other protein to turn the salad into a main course.

USING PASTEURIZED EGGS

Because the dressing contains raw eggs, like Caesar salad, pasteurized eggs like Safest Choice guarantee against the possibility of rare, though still plausible, salmonella poisoning.

To pasteurize eggs, an all-natural, gentle water bath kills the potentially harmful bacteria in the eggs without changing the texture or nutrition. The eggs still look, cook and taste like raw eggs. Here’s more on pasteurized eggs.

RECIPE: BLT SLAW

Prep time is 25 minutes.

Ingredients For 8 Side Servings

For The Slaw

1 package (10 ounces) cole slaw (plain shredded cabbage, or broccoli slaw if you prefer)

6 cups thinly sliced hearts of romaine lettuce

1 large avocado, diced

1/3 cup diced red onion

6 crisp cooked bacon strips, coarsely crumbled

1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese (substitute goat cheese)

1 pint sliced cherry tomatoes or equivalent diced heirloom tomatoes in season

Optional: 1 teaspoon celery seeds (encouraged!)

Optional: extra cherry tomatoes for garnish

For The Dressing

2 pasteurized eggs

1 cup chopped tomato

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

2/3 cup olive oil or vegetable oil

Preparation

1. COMBINE the salad ingredients in a large bowl.

2. MAKE the dressing. Place the eggs in a food processor or blender and process about 30 seconds. Add the tomato, vinegar, parsley, mustard, salt and pepper. Process until smooth. With the machine running, add the oil in thin steady stream until combined.

Shredded cabbage, the traditional base for cole slaw. As an alternative, use a food processor to shred a whole head of cabbage, and consider red cabbage for color and the fun factor. Photo courtesy Dole.

3. TOSS half of the dressing with slaw to coat. Garnish with the optional cherry tomatoes.

4. PASS the remaining dressing for those who want more.

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