Koolsla

Coleslaw comes from the Dutch word koolsla, meaning cabbage salad, and the four original vegetables used to make it were cabbage, onion, carrot and leek. When I found out that leek was one of the main ingredients I was intrigued, I had never used raw leek and being Welsh I just had to try it.

The dish I created on the show was quite fatty so I knew I wanted my koolsla to cut through some of the fattier elements, which is why I created the vinaigrette for the vegetables rather than the more traditional coating of mayonnaise, plus it’s healthier.

Ingredients

½ white cabbage

½ red cabbage

1 leek

1 red onion

1 shallot

100g smoked think streaky bacon

3 garlic cloves

A handful of walnuts, roughly chopped

A handful of dried cranberries

3 tbsp runny clear honey

3 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

1 heaped tsp black onion seeds

Ground black pepper

Method

1. Finely slice the cabbages, the onion and the white part of the leek. Grate the carrot and put all the vegetables in a large bowl.

2. Add the walnuts and the cranberries to the same bowl.

3. Finely slice the shallot, mince the garlic and dice the bacon.

4. Gently fry the shallot, garlic, black onion seeds and bacon until its caramelized.

5. Remove the bacon and set aside.

6. Mix the vinegar, honey and mustard then add to the bacon pan. Season to taste.

7. Add the bacon to the bowl with the vegetables.

8. Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables mix well and serve.