“What is blanch?”  my daughter asked as I began this blog.  Add an “e” at the end and it’s French for white, but in cooking, it means to boil about 30 seconds and I like blanching certain vegetables, like carrots, broccoli and cauliflower, before adding them to my winter salads.  It takes the edge off these vegetables and transforms a meek salad into a vegetable dish full of vitamins.  Blanching vegetables softens the flavor and makes them digest easier.  Lately, I’ve been making my cabbage salad with the following ingredients:

• 2-3 small carrots, blanched whole, then cut lengthwise and thinly sliced
• several broccoli flowerettes, blanched and chopped to the point the kids mistake them for lettuce
• one heart of romain lettuce, chopped
• 2T. finely chopped parsley (or cilantro)
• 4-5+ cups white and red cabbage (sliced and chopped)
• 3T. crumbled sharp white cheddar
• vinaigrette dressing