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Prep time
30 minutes
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Serves
6 to 8
Author Notes
Deb Perelman had yearned for a grain salad with an inverted proportion of grains to vegetables for some time before tasting the inspiration for this one at the West Village restaurant Via Carota. Finally, she felt more confident to make her own. Since then, she’s seen scant proportions of grains peek through in other restaurant salads (often fried freekah for toasty, popcorn-like crunch) and made all sorts of variations herself. She loves switching in walnuts and “diced pillowy bits of Taleggio or Robiola instead of Parmesan cheese.” You can also swap any dried fruit for the apricot.
Adapted very slightly from Smitten Kitchen Every Day (Knopf, 2017). —Genius Recipes
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Ingredients
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1/2 cup
(100g) finely diced dried apricots
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1/4 cup
(60ml) white wine vinegar, plus more to taste
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1
small-medium (2 pounds or a bit less than 1kg) head green cabbage
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1 1/3 cups
(145g) cooked farro, cooled (from about 3/4 cup uncooked)
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1/3 cup
(45g) roughly chopped roasted almonds
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2 ounces
(55g) Parmesan, thinly shaved on a grater with a vegetable peeler
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3 tablespoons
(45ml) olive oil, plus more to taste
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1/2 teaspoon
kosher salt, plus more to taste
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1 pinch
freshly ground black pepper, more to taste
Directions
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Place the apricots in a small bowl with the vinegar, and set aside while preparing the other ingredients.
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Cut the cabbage in half, and remove the core (and eat the core as a crunchy snack); then cut the halves again so you have quarters. With a mandolin or a knife, slice the cabbage into very thin ribbons. You’ll have about 12 cups total, which will seem ridiculous, but it will wilt down with dressing on it. Pile it into your largest bowl.
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Add to the bowl the apricots and their vinegar, the farro, almonds, and most of the Parmesan, plus the olive oil, salt, and a good helping of freshly ground pepper. Toss to combine, and try to give it 15 minutes to let the ingredients settle a little before making seasoning adjustments; then add more vinegar, Parmesan, oil, salt, and pepper to taste. Perelman emphasizes this: "With so few ingredients and most of them fairly mildly flavored, you cannot skimp on seasoning or texture; I hope everyone toasts their almonds well and uses salt and pepper until all the flavors are lifted/present."
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Heap the slaw on plates in piles, and top with remaining Parmesan. The slaw's textures are best for serving to company at this point, but this will keep for up to 1 week in the fridge for great take-to-work lunches.
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