On The Thirteenth Day of Christmas: Something To Chew On

This is actually more of a spring/summer dish, but forgive me. I'm not putting one more of those yellow photos up here again (yet). It's not totally out of season though - yesterday, I laid my hands on a lovely head of spring cabbage and remembered this dish I made in - spring. It's a lighter version of coleslaw, if you will. Ah, spring! Today was 1 degree Celsius outside, and I, stupid me, forgot to put on pantyhose under my jeans. Brrr.

This is not so much a recipe, as it is a set of instructions. Slice your cabbage finely, and dress it with a couple pinches of salt and sugar. Leave to one side for half an hour. The salt and sugar will lightly cure the cabbage, and make for a smoother chew. Meanwhile, toast your pine nuts and leave to cool.

When you're ready, give the cabbage a good grind of pepper and mix in half the pine nuts. Transfer to a pretty bowl and top with the rest of the pine nuts. There's no dressing as such, but if you think it needs a spike, a little white wine or champagne vinegar could definitely work.

Serve with fish, or maybe a pork chop, a frikadelle or... something grilled. Dream of sun and bird song (and forget for a second that you haven't bought all your Christmas presents yet. Like me. Yikes!)