Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad

This dreary Monday called for a BRIGHT and beautiful recipe. Brussels sprouts salads take a little bit more work because you have to really prep the Brussels, but it’s totally worth it because these baby cabbages are much heartier and satisfying than your typical salad greens.

SHOPPING LIST: 1 lb. Brussels sprouts, shaved parmesan, dried cherries, sunflower seeds, olive oil, stone ground mustard, dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper

The first step is to trim the ends off your Brussels sprouts – then you are going to BLANCH them quickly. Bring a pot of heavily salted water to boil. Drop in the Brussels sprouts for 3 minutes, and then immediately rinse them under COLD COLD water – or if you have time to create an ice bath (ice + cold water) you can strain your Brussels and drop them in the ice bath. This helps to retain the bright green color! Lay your Brussels out on paper towels and make sure they are fully dry before you continue.

Next, you have to THINLY slice all of the Brussels sprouts. I usually start shredding from the right side, and then when I get half way through, I turn the sprout so it is flat again to continue. Also, some of the whole leaves will have fallen off during the blanching process, reserve them to toss with the shredded sprouts because it looks pretty! You know we’re all about looking pretty over here. When all of your sprouts are thinly sliced, you are practically done.

Top the shredded sprouts with 1/2 cup of dried cherries, 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan and 3 tB. of sunflower seeds (you could also use our aforementioned candied pecans here or pistachios!). Lastly, the simplest mustard vinaigrette – in a small bowl combine 1 tB. stone ground mustard, 1 tB. dijon mustard, 2 tB. apple cider vinegar and 2 tB. of olive oil. Whisk together and season with salt and pepper to taste. Dress your salad with your mustard vinaigrette, toss well and enjoy.

One of the other things that makes this salad so wonderful, is aside from the Brussels sprouts being heartier than your typical salad greens, they also stand up WONDERFULLY to dressing – no soggy Susan around here! What else does that mean? This is one of the FEW salads that can actually be enjoyable the next day!