Green Slaw With Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Summer is here.  Suddenly we notice the change in our taste — we crave lighter dishes, we see more vegetables in our fridge and on our plate, we sip iced drinks, and I don’t know about you, but I am just not in the mood for elaborate dinner cooking marathons. Summer laziness sets in.

To celebrate my summer laziness, here is a batch of juicy and refreshing green slaw, which works perfectly as a side dish to much anything — from fish to pork.  I served it with braised pork tenderloin bits and skillet fried potato pie (let’s save this for another post).  All three dishes took practically no time to put together, majority of time was waiting for the dishes to cook.

This slaw is not the creamy wintery kind, it’s full of cabbage, lemon and lime juices, with the addition of a bit of vinegar (you can skip it if you wish).  I stuck with all green ingredients for both visual and flavor reasons.  Here is a little surprise part, right before you serve the slaw, toss in a handful of toasted pumpkin seeds for charming crunch and added flavor interest.  Pumpkin seeds are green, too. At least before toasting they were.  Toast them lightly with a pinch of coarse salt for even roasting.  Cool the seeds completely, they’ll get even “toastier” as they cool off.

Green Slaw With Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

• 1 small cabbage head, or 1/2 of larger one — approximately 1 lbs of cored cabage
• 1 large green bell pepper
• 1/2 white or yellow onion
• 1 medium cucumber with skin
• fresh herbs, such as dill, parsley, cilantro, basil
• juice of 1 lime
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt to taste
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1-2 tbsp rice or white vinegar (optional)
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil to finish

1. Remove outer dark green leaves from cabbage. If pretty, wash them thoroughly, dry and reserve for serving the slaw. Otherwise, discard.
2. Quarter and core cabbage. Slice crosswise quite thin. You can use mandolin slicer for this, if desire.
3. Shred green pepper and cucumber using a coarse grater.
4. Slice onion very thin crosswise.
5. Chop all the herbs finely
6. In a large bowl, toss together cabbage, onions, cucumber, pepper, herbs and coarse salt.
7. Using your hand, squeeze and bruise the vegetables in a bowl, until they are very juicy and cabbage is lightly wilted.
8. Add lemon and lime juice (and vinegar if using) at this time, and toss everything well together. Let slaw stand until ready to serve, to develop flavor and wilt some more.
9. Meanwhile, heat a cast iron skillet, add a bit of coarse salt to it, and toast pumpkin seeds for 4-5 minutes, shaking them or turning them with a wooden spoon. Seeds should plump up and lightly brown. Some of them may jump out of the skillet as they toast.
10. Remove skillet from heat and let seeds cool in a skillet completely.
11. Just before serving the slaw, add olive oil to the slaw and mix in.  Add pumpkin seeds last and toss together again.