Zesty Cabbage Salad with Garlic and Lemon

Sweet, slightly crunchy, with zesty flavor from lemon, and healthful benefits from garlic and olive oil–this salad will help to strengthen and nourish us for spring!

Cabbage is a lovely addition to the early-spring menu: it’s inexpensive, keeps beautifully, and is one of those great cancer-fighting cruciferous vegetables. When you fix it like this, it’s also a taste sensation.

If you’ve avoided cabbage because it can be bitter, here’s the Syrian secret for making it sweet! And just wait ‘til you see how simple this salad is to make.

INGREDIENTS

1 small head Savoy cabbage (about 1 pound), damaged outer leaves removed, cored, and shredded
1/4 cup sea salt, or more to taste
6 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon dried mint

1. Toss the shredded cabbage in a large bowl with the salt and let sit for 1 hour. (This will reduce the bitter taste resulting from the glucosinolates in the cabbage, which are broken down once the leaves are cut.)

2. Thoroughly wash the salt from the cabbage by dunking it in water. Taste a piece of the raw cabbage to make sure the salt is washed off. Let drain in a colander.

3. Return to the cleaned bowl. Toss well with the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and mint. Check the seasonings, although it should not need any more salt, and serve at room temperature within the hour.

Serves 4 to 6.

Read more: Food, All recipes, Soups & Salads

Adapted from Little Foods of the Mediterranean, by Clifford A. Wright (Harvard Common Press, 2003). Copyright (c) 2003 by Clifford A. Wright. Reprinted by permission of Harvard Common Press.
Adapted from Little Foods of the Mediterranean, by Clifford A. Wright (Harvard Common Press, 2003).