cult of beauty

For many, white cabbage is just a memory. The over cooked, strong smelling kind that added to ill tasting school meals...

(I myself didn't have this experience. I always rave on to this day about my school meals as they were so darn spectacular).

But for those of you who didn't share this pleasant experience, I think I need to introduce you to cabbage in a new kind of way.

I have just been to 'The Cult of Beauty' exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Fantastic, and in their words 'an extraordinary artistic movement which sought to escape the ugliness and materialism of the Victorian era by creating a new kind of art and beauty.' I have two new loves. Albert Moore. Dante Gabriel Rossetti. 

Albert Moore 'Midsummer'

Dante Gabriel Rossetti 'Lady Lilith'

So a new kind of art and beauty? 

Can this be applied to cabbage phobias?

I think so

Welcome and hello Nigella Lawson's Vietnamese chicken salad. It seems complicated. It's not. You're still frightened of cabbage? You won't be afterwards.

The checklist:

• 1 chilli, preferably a hot Thai one, seeded and minced
• 1 fat garlic clove, peeled and minced
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons rice vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Vietnamese or Thai fish sauce (nuoc nam or nam pla)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Half a medium onion, finely sliced
• Black pepper
• 200g white cabbage, shredded
• 1 medium carrot, shredded, julienned or grated
• 200g cooked chicken breast, shredded or cut into fine strips fat
• Bunch of mint, about 40g stemmed weight

In a bowl, mix the chilli, garlic, sugar, rice vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, vegetable oil, onion and black pepper together. Leave to marinate together for at least 30 minutes.

Then into a large bowl, put the shredded cabbage. Shredded carrot. Shredded cooked chicken breast (I just cooked with a bit of oil/salt/pepper in oven beforehand or during preparation). Chopped mint.

Finally, add the dressing and mix/toss well.

Nigella's looks all finely chopped, but mine is a little more haphazardly cut. This is seriously the BEST salad i have ever tasted. Slightly addictive.

This is NOT, by any means, a generic salad!