I’m all for a holiday season full of indulging, but it feels great to resume standard eating habits. Remember vegetables? Fiber? Ah, how I missed them so. This winter cabbage salad is full of both, combining Brussel sprouts, dried cranberries, radicchio, chickpeas, and pistachios in a lemon garlic dressing. It’s crunchy, flavorful, and downright addicting. It’s perfect for keeping those New Years resolutions of eternal health on track. Pair it with The Electric Chardonnay Acid Test, a favorite white wine in my current circulation.
Seasonal Veggies are Hearty yet Refreshing
So much of winter cooking involves hot-hot-heat and much less fresh produce compared to the warmer months. This pattern is great for keeping cozy, but we must be sure to balance it out with some fresh veg. Choosing fruits and vegetables that are in season make for the best winter salads that are hearty, crunchy, and satisfying.
Many cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, broccoli, etc. are all in season right now. Picking a couple, like radicchio and Brussels, to make a salad is really easy as most foods that are in season pair perfectly together without much extra effort.
When it comes to fruits, pomegranates are like this hidden winter gem that brighten up any dish and are not always the most commonly kept on reserve in your kitchen. Using them can be a special seasonal choice to dress up a salad or even a roasted veg dish. I love to use them in a salad like this one but instead, I opted for dried cranberries. Cranberries are also in season and it’s a bit more accessible to keep dried cranberries on hand when throwing together a salad recipe at the drop of a hat.
Peruse other seasonal options and feel free to get creative with your own combinations!
A Winter Cabbage Salad Pairs With High Acid Unoaked Chardonnay
The lemon-infused garlic oil and fresh lemon juice dressing begs for a high-acid wine pairing. My current favorite? The Electric Chardonnay Acid Test. This German Chardonnay will surprise you. It is nothing like its Sonoma California buttery, oaked counterpart. Thanks to the cool climate, the acidity is super high and makes this wine juicy and refreshing. It’s unoaked so it doesn’t overpower any of the veggies you’ve got going on.
I can’t recommend this wine enough right now. If you subscribe to the monthly newsletter, you’ll know it’s one of my favorite wines I’ve had in 2021. If you’re someone (or know someone) who is much more of a “beer drinker”, particularly IPAs or sours, they’ll love this wine!
Want to learn more about pairing wine with salads? Get tips for salad and wine pairings here.
Winter Cabbage Salad with Cranberries and Chickpeas
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This winter cabbage salad is full of both, combining Brussel sprouts, dried cranberries, radicchio, chickpeas, and pistachios in a lemon garlic dressing. It’s crunchy, flavorful, and downright addicting!
Ingredients
Dressing
- 1 lemon
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Salt & pepper, to taste
Salad Base
- 1 head of radicchio, thinly sliced
- 6 oz Brussels sprouts, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup dill, coarsely chopped
- 6–8 oz feta, crumbled (buy it crumbled or break up a block)
- 1/4 cup pistachios, roasted & salted
- 2 cans of garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
- 1 cup dried cranberries (tip: try fresh pomegranate seeds if you can snag ’em!)
Instructions
Dressing
- Using a peeler, peel the zest from the lemon into wide strips. Set aside lemon for later use.
- Over medium-low heat, combine the olive oil, lemon zest strips, crushed garlic cloves, and red pepper flakes in a large saucepan. Allow the oil to be infused with all of the flavors for about 10 minutes. If the oil starts bubbling, reduce the heat – keep it gentle!
Salad Base
- Drain the two cans of garbanzo beans. After the ten minutes have passed, remove the saucepan from the heat and add the garbanzo beans in. Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Stir to coat evenly. Allow the beans to sit and soak up the flavor from the olive oil for 10-20 minutes.
- While the beans are marinating, combine the thinly sliced radicchio, Brussels sprouts, dill, pistachios, crumbled feta, and cranberries in a large salad bowl and toss them together.
- After the beans have marinated for awhile, combine them – along with any excess lemon garlic oil – with the rest of the salad.
- For the final touch, juice the lemon set aside from earlier and drizzle the salad with the lemon juice. Toss one final time to coat everything evenly.
- Serve with some additional freshly cracked pepper and voilà!
- Optional: Add a bit of grated Parm for additional flavor (I can’t help myself from adding freshly grated Parmesan to literally everything I make)
Sydney is a 29-year old American living between France and Italy. She has a WSET Level 2 certification in wine, along with a degree in environmental engineering and an MBA. She loves exploring local farmer’s markets, haunting her favorite wine bar, and discovering new restaurants.
Love this one!