Ruby Slaw

I have a habit of buying a head of cabbage and letting it languish in the fridge for ages. But the good news is that cabbage can withstand my indifference. If properly stored, cabbage can stay fresh for up to two months in the refrigerator. Usually you’ll just lose a couple outer leaves to wilting. Just make sure to keep it tightly wrapped in the crisper section and it’ll remain fresh until you finally decide to do something with it.

Cabbage is a wonderful, inexpensive vegetable. The cruciferous vegetable is full of fiber and antioxidants, and purple cabbage has the additional benefit of polyphenols from its vibrant color. A cup of cabbage has only 45 calories, nearly all your vitamin C and K for the day.

Here’s an idea if you have a cabbage languishing in your fridge. This veggie side dish is so simple and so good. You can use either green or purple cabbage. I suppose you can use a mixture of both colors but the purple cabbage has a tendency to bleed so you won’t get the pretty red and purple color combo.

You can serve this as a side dish or top a pulled pork or barbecued chicken sandwich with it. I had a pomegranate-infused balsamic vinegar that added an extra kick of flavor but you can use any balsamic vinegar you have. If you use green cabbage, stick with white or cider vinegar to keep the color from getting muddy.

Give this slaw a while to marinate — I let it sit overnight in the fridge. The cabbage softens and gets infused with the flavors. Making it in a zipper-lock plastic bag helps you to massage in the ingredients and also doubles as easy storage. Just take out as much as you need.