Chef Thomas
A Ploughman's Salad
The old pub ploughman's, shaken loose from its board and laid across butter lettuce with a sharp mustard dressing, for the kind of lunch that feels like you've given yourself the afternoon off.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Red Cabbage and Apple Slaw with Walnuts
Created by Chef Thomas
Shredded red cabbage, sharp with cider vinegar and mustard, tossed with crisp autumn apple and toasted walnuts. The kind of bowl that makes itself useful all week.
Salads
British
Potluck
Make Ahead
20 min
Active Time
5 min cook•25 min total
Yield6 servings
October, and the market stall had red cabbages stacked in a crate, tight and heavy and that extraordinary colour, somewhere between plum and ink. I picked one up and it weighed like a small planet. You forget, sometimes, what a proper vegetable feels like in the hand.
This slaw is the sort of thing I make when I need something in the fridge that earns its place across several days. It goes with everything: cold roast pork on Monday, a baked potato on Tuesday, alongside cheese and bread on Wednesday when you can't be bothered to think. The cabbage holds its nerve. Most salads wilt and turn sad within hours. This one improves. The vinegar and mustard soften the shreds, the apple stays crisp enough to matter, and the walnuts keep their bite.
A recipe is a conversation, not a contract. The proportions here are a starting point. More mustard if you like heat. A little more honey if the apples are tart. A handful of dried cranberries if they're in the cupboard and you want a touch of sweetness. Your kitchen, your rules.
I wrote it down in the notebook last autumn: red cabbage, Cox's apples, walnuts, the vinegar smell sharp and clean in the kitchen. Right food, right evening. Sometimes that's all a recipe needs to say.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
red cabbage
Quantity
½ medium
cored and finely shredded
crisp eating apples
Quantity
2 (Cox's or Braeburn)
cored and cut into thin matchsticks
lemon juice
Quantity
½ lemon
walnut halves
Quantity
100g
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
small bunch
roughly chopped
cider vinegar
Quantity
2 tablespoons
wholegrain mustard
Quantity
1 tablespoon
runny honey
Quantity
1 teaspoon
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
4 tablespoons
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| red cabbagecored and finely shredded | ½ medium |
| crisp eating applescored and cut into thin matchsticks | 2 (Cox's or Braeburn) |
| lemon juice | ½ lemon |
| walnut halves | 100g |
| flat-leaf parsleyroughly chopped | small bunch |
| cider vinegar | 2 tablespoons |
| wholegrain mustard | 1 tablespoon |
| runny honey | 1 teaspoon |
| extra virgin olive oil | 4 tablespoons |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| black pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Large sharp knife or mandoline
- •Large mixing bowl
- •Small bowl or jar for dressing
Instructions
- 1
Toast the walnuts
Scatter the walnuts into a dry frying pan over a medium heat. Stay close. Shake the pan every thirty seconds or so and watch them. You want them golden and fragrant, smelling warm and slightly sweet, like the start of something good. It takes three to five minutes. The moment they darken, tip them out onto a board. A hot pan keeps cooking them after the flame is off, and there's a narrow window between toasted and bitter. Roughly chop them once they've cooled. Not too fine. You want pieces, not dust.
Trust your nose here. The smell shifts from raw and faintly green to warm and toasty. That's when they're done. Your nose knows before your eyes do. - 2
Shred the cabbage
Halve the cabbage, cut out the core, and shred it as finely as you can manage. A sharp knife is essential. The thinner the shreds, the better they take on the dressing and the more tender they become as they sit. Pile the shreds into a large bowl. It will look like far too much. It isn't.
- 3
Prepare the apple
Cut the apples into thin matchsticks, working around the core. Toss them immediately in the lemon juice to stop them browning. The lemon does double duty here: it keeps the apple bright and sharp and adds a quiet acidity that lifts everything else. Add the apple to the bowl with the cabbage.
Choose an apple with some snap to it. A Cox's in October is perfect: tart, crisp, with that honeyed depth. Braeburn holds up well too. Anything that tastes good eaten out of hand will work. Anything mealy or soft won't. - 4
Make the dressing
Whisk the cider vinegar, mustard, and honey together in a small bowl or jar. Add the olive oil in a slow stream, whisking as you go, until it comes together into something thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Taste it. The dressing should be sharp and lively, a little more punchy than you think it needs, because the cabbage will absorb and soften the edges.
- 5
Dress and finish
Pour the dressing over the cabbage and apple. Get your hands in and toss everything thoroughly. The cabbage will start to relax almost immediately, the purple darkening where the vinegar hits. Add the chopped walnuts and the parsley. Toss again. Taste for seasoning. It might want more salt. It almost always does. Let it sit for ten minutes before serving if you can. The flavours settle and the cabbage softens just enough to lose its rawness without losing its crunch.
Chef Tips
- •The cabbage improves overnight. Make it in the afternoon and by evening the shreds will have relaxed into the dressing, gone from raw and squeaky to tender with a bit of backbone. By the second day it's better still. This is a slaw that rewards patience.
- •A sharp knife matters more here than in most recipes. Thick cabbage shreds stay tough and unwieldy. Thin ones absorb the dressing and soften without collapsing. If your knife isn't up to it, a mandoline will do the job, but mind your fingers.
- •If you're taking this to someone else's table, dress it just before you leave. It travels well. Keep the walnuts in a separate bag and scatter them on at the last moment so they stay crisp. Soggy walnuts are a small sadness.
- •This sits beautifully alongside a roast. The sharpness of the dressing and the crunch of the cabbage cut through rich, fatty meat in a way that a cooked vegetable can't. A shoulder of pork and a bowl of this slaw is a meal that needs nothing else.
Advance Preparation
- •The slaw can be made up to three days ahead and kept covered in the fridge. The flavour deepens and the cabbage softens, which is no bad thing. Add the walnuts fresh when serving so they keep their crunch.
- •The dressing can be made a week ahead and stored in a jar in the fridge. Shake well before using.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 160g)
Calories
245 calories
Total Fat
20 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
17 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
260 mg
Total Carbohydrates
16 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
4 g
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