Pink Ladies, and I'm not talking about Grease

Don said I nearly stumped him at the grocery store this weekend. We decided to divide and conquor. Since they are in the same shopping center, Don took the list for our local produce mart (Farm Boy) while I hit up the Trader Joes. We had just had a lovely afternoon in the park with the dogs and we wanted to get the shopping done quickly since Cordy and Seumas were waiting for us in the car. Anyway, on my list were Pink Lady Apples which Don had never heard of before and I don't blame him. It's not an apple that gets center stage a lot of times. In fact the only time I can ever recall using pink ladies before is in my cranberry apple sauce recipe that calls for a variety of apples for depth of flavor. Pink Ladies are a sweet variety and especially tasty when eaten sliced raw and chilled. They go well in fruit salads and, in this case, performed fantastically in my new delicous Apple Slaw recipe below, courtesy of Cooking Light. If you dn't have dried cherries on hand, this would also go really well with dried cranberries.

Apple Slaw


The sweet-spicy Pink Lady apples complement the tartness of the cherries and the vinaigrette in this slaw, which is a natural companion for pork chops or ham. Cameo, Fuji, or Gala apples will also work well.


Vinaigrette:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Slaw:
2 1/2 cups chopped Pink Lady or other sweet apple
1 (12-ounce) package broccoli slaw
1 (3-ounce) package dried tart cherries
2 tablespoons unsalted sunflower seed kernels

To prepare vinaigrette, combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk.

To prepare slaw, combine apple, broccoli slaw, and dried cherries. Drizzle with vinaigrette; toss well to combine. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds; chill for up to 3 hours.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

CALORIES 125 (29% from fat); FAT 4g (sat 0.5g,mono 2.1g,poly 1.1g); IRON 0.9mg; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 33mg; CARBOHYDRATE 24.9g; SODIUM 91mg; PROTEIN 2.1g; FIBER 2.7g

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2002