No-Mayo Blue Cheese Coleslaw

No-Mayo Blue Cheese Coleslaw is the cold and crunchy answer to what to serve with barbecue.

Labor Day gives us one more weekend of summer, and we are going to grill outside. 

We served this recently at Meatfest (a barbecued meat heaven of a birthday party for a man), where it was reluctantly received (“This isn’t Veggiefest,” I was told) but happily eaten. All of it. When the meat-eaters (and their wives) started asking for the recipe, I knew we had something good.

No-Mayo Blue Cheese Coleslaw is just the thing – and a very easy thing – to perk up heavy grilled meat and barbecue. It’s crunchy and super tangy, thanks to a one-to-one mix of white vinegar and oil. So it’s light enough to brighten what it’s served with, but, still, the blue cheese gives it some strong legs to stand on. This is no run-of-the-mill store-bought coleslaw.

No-Mayo Blue Cheese Coleslaw

Ingredients: 

1 large head green cabbage, thinly sliced
2 or 3 scallions, green part only, thinly sliced
1 4 – 5 ounce wedge firm blue cheese
½ cup white wine vinegar
½ cup good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon (or more) fresh ground pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ cup roasted pepitas (optional)

Recipe directions: 

In a large bowl, toss the cabbage and scallions together. Using your hands, gently crumble in the blue cheese, being sure that the pieces are small, nothing as large as a pea. In a small bowl (or I just use a Pyrex measuring cup), whisk together the vinegar, oil, salt, pepper and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Pour over the cabbage and toss. Top with pepitas if using. If you want to make this ahead – the flavor actually gets better with an hour or two rest time – just add the pepitas right before you serve the coleslaw.