Now that it’s summer, it’s grilling season at my house.  True confessions.  I don’t do the grilling myself.  Howard is 100% in charge.  While he minds the grill, I take responsibility for all accompaniments which is frequently salad.  I LOVE making salads – not green salads, but other kinds of salads: vegetables, beans, grains.  I enjoy making and eating any and all of these.  Certainly I have old favorite recipes, but trying new ones is just as fun.

This week’s recipe for Cook the Book Fridays, Raw Vegetable Slaw, from David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen, provides a template that will get major mileage this summer.  It can be made from a single vegetable or a mixture, whatever herbs are fresh, and two choices of garlicky dressings: one creamy and the other a vinaigrette.  Almost any crunchy vegetable could be used.  The recipe suggests cabbage, radicchio, carrots, broccoli, beets, even apples, cut into matchsticks or sliced thin.  Avocado or hard-boiled eggs are also an option.

My CSA share included a bunch of tender kohlrabi, so I showcased them in a kohlrabi-only version of the slaw.  The tarragon in my herb garden has been plentiful, so I used that, along with parsley, instead of chives.  And I made the vinaigrette variation of the dressing because that matched my mood.

Purple kohlrabi is creamy white on the inside

The verdict?  Fabulous!  It was crisp and refreshing, perfect alongside anything grilled.  I’m excited to try this with other vegetables as well as with the creamy garlic dressing.

To see if my “Cook the Book Fridays” friends agreed, check out their posts here.  To try it yourself, you can find the recipe on page 96 of David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen.