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
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Winter Root Slaw with Parsnip and Beetroot
Created by Chef Thomas
A raw winter slaw of grated parsnip, celeriac, and beetroot in a mustardy dressing, built for the months when the garden is bare and the root vegetables are the best thing going.
Salads
British
Make Ahead
Potluck
25 min
Active Time
0 min cook•25 min total
Yield6 servings
January. The garden is bare except for the parsnips, which have been in the ground since autumn and are sweeter for the frost. The celeriac is still good, solid and dense, and there are beetroot in the box from the market, their skins still dusty with earth. This is what winter gives you if you pay attention.
A slaw doesn't have to mean cabbage. When the summer heads are long gone and the coleslaws of August feel like another life, the root vegetables step in and do something arguably better. Raw parsnip has a sweetness and a pepperiness that catches you off guard if you've only ever had it roasted. Celeriac, grated coarsely, brings a quiet celery warmth. And beetroot, that most generous of roots, turns the whole bowl into something you'd actually want to look at on a grey afternoon.
The dressing is mustardy and sharp, mayonnaise loosened with cider vinegar and lemon so it coats rather than smothers. You want to taste the vegetables, not mask them. A recipe is a conversation, not a contract, so adjust the balance to your own mouth. More mustard, less lemon, a bit more oil if you like things gentler. Your kitchen, your rules.
I make this through the cold months and take it to other people's tables when asked to bring something. It sits happily for hours, travels without complaint, and looks after itself while you get on with everything else. I wrote it down in the notebook last February: parsnip, beetroot, mustard, rain on the window. That was enough to remember it by.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
parsnips
Quantity
2 medium
peeled and coarsely grated
celeriac
Quantity
1 small (about 400g)
peeled and coarsely grated
raw beetroot
Quantity
2 medium
peeled and coarsely grated
sharp eating apple
Quantity
1
coarsely grated
good mayonnaise
Quantity
3 tablespoons
wholegrain mustard
Quantity
1 tablespoon
lemon
Quantity
half
juiced
cider vinegar
Quantity
1 tablespoon
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
small handful
roughly chopped
toasted sunflower seeds (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| parsnipspeeled and coarsely grated | 2 medium |
| celeriacpeeled and coarsely grated | 1 small (about 400g) |
| raw beetrootpeeled and coarsely grated | 2 medium |
| sharp eating applecoarsely grated | 1 |
| good mayonnaise | 3 tablespoons |
| wholegrain mustard | 1 tablespoon |
| lemonjuiced | half |
| cider vinegar | 1 tablespoon |
| extra virgin olive oil | 2 tablespoons |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| black pepper | to taste |
| flat-leaf parsleyroughly chopped | small handful |
| toasted sunflower seeds (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Box grater or food processor with coarse grating disc
- •Large mixing bowl
- •Small bowl for dressing
Instructions
- 1
Grate the roots
Peel and coarsely grate the parsnips and celeriac into a large bowl. Use the big holes on a box grater or the coarse disc of a food processor, whichever your patience allows. The pieces should be long, rough shreds, not fine mush. You want something with backbone, something that holds its shape in a dressing without going limp. Grate the beetroot separately into a small bowl. It will stain everything it touches, and if you mix it in now the whole slaw turns a uniform pink. That's not what you're after.
Wear something you don't mind ruining, or an apron. Beetroot juice doesn't forgive and it doesn't forget. Your hands will look dramatic for a day or two. Lemon juice helps, but mostly you just have to wait. - 2
Grate the apple
Coarsely grate the apple, skin and all, stopping when you reach the core. Add it straight to the bowl with the parsnip and celeriac. The apple does quiet, important work here: a little sweetness, a little sharpness, and enough moisture to help the dressing cling. A Braeburn or Cox works well. Anything crisp and a bit tart.
- 3
Make the dressing
In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, wholegrain mustard, lemon juice, cider vinegar, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Taste it. It should be sharp and punchy, more so than you think is right, because the roots will absorb the acidity and soften it. If it tastes perfectly balanced now, it will taste flat in an hour. More mustard if you like heat. More lemon if it needs waking up. Trust your tongue.
If you make your own mayonnaise, all the better. But a good shop-bought one, the kind that tastes of eggs and oil rather than sugar and air, is perfectly fine here. No guilt. We're only making dinner. - 4
Dress and combine
Pour the dressing over the parsnip, celeriac, and apple. Toss it through with your hands or two forks until everything is well coated. Now fold in the beetroot, gently, in broad strokes. You want streaks of deep crimson running through the pale shreds, not a uniform colour. It should look like a winter garden: earthy, vivid, a bit untidy. Scatter the parsley over the top and the sunflower seeds if you're using them.
- 5
Rest before serving
Give it twenty minutes at room temperature before you serve it, or make it a few hours ahead and keep it in the fridge. A slaw like this improves with sitting. The roots soften just slightly, the dressing works its way in, and the flavours stop being separate things and start becoming a single, coherent bowl. Taste it again before it goes to the table. Season and taste. Then taste again. It almost always needs a final pinch of salt.
Chef Tips
- •Use the coarse side of the grater. Fine shreds turn to wet mush in the dressing. You want rough, irregular strands with enough structure to hold their shape for hours. This matters more than anything else in the recipe.
- •Keep the beetroot separate until the last moment and fold it through in broad, lazy strokes. The streaks of crimson through the pale roots are half the pleasure of this bowl. Mix it too thoroughly and you lose the drama for the sake of uniformity.
- •This slaw is better after an hour in the fridge than it is freshly made. The roots soften just enough, the dressing settles in, and everything tastes more like itself. Make it before you do anything else and forget about it until you're ready to eat.
- •A handful of walnuts, roughly broken, is good here if you want something to bite against. Or a few shavings of a hard, sharp cheese across the top. Neither is necessary. The slaw is complete without them.
Advance Preparation
- •The slaw can be made up to eight hours ahead and kept covered in the fridge. The flavours improve with time and the roots soften to a better texture.
- •The dressing can be mixed a day ahead and refrigerated. Dress the grated vegetables no more than eight hours before serving, or the beetroot will bleed through completely and you'll lose the contrast.
- •Travels well in a sealed container for potlucks and other people's tables. Give it a gentle toss and a final seasoning before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 210g)
Calories
200 calories
Total Fat
11 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
9 g
Cholesterol
3 mg
Sodium
390 mg
Total Carbohydrates
24 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
3 g
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