Our next recipe comes from Keri.
Keri teaches the Tuesdays noon class, yoga allows her to be mindful in her professional and personal life, which is great because she often comes to teach right after an all-night shift at the hospital. Yoga brings balance to her sometimes stressful life as a full-time practicing OBGYN. You’ll often here Keri say “yoga saved me.”In 2015, Keri completed her 200-hour yoga teacher certification from Spira and continues to study and mentor with Dora Gyarmati and Carina Terra. Her yoga teaching-style is based on balancing strength and flexibility, healthy body mechanics, and mindfulness.
Keri brought this salad to Dora’s birthday party and it was a hit! You know it is an amazing salad if it takes attention away from the meats, shrimp and sweets. We have been nagging her to send in the recipe… Don’t be mislead by the name, this is some seriously tasty comfort food. That’s right, salad as comfort food!
Shaved Brussel Sprout and Bacon Salad
This is not the brussel sprouts your grandma made you eat–so stop wrinkling your nose! Brussel sprouts are frequently found on restaurant menus: roasted, crisped, sauced, and cheesy. And they should be in your home, too, on your dinner table. Brussel sprouts are members of the Brassica family or cruciferous vegetables–along with cauliflower, kale, cabbage, bok choy, and broccoli. Consuming these vegetables provides several health benefits: Vitamin C, folate, vitamin K and anti-oxidants. When consumed raw, these vegetables may have bitter undertones that may make them unpleasant to ingest. Cooking them brings out a pleasant and mild sweetness. However, they may not be for everyone–as they are high in FODMAPs carbohydrates–making them difficult to digest–causing bloating, abdominal distention, gas, constipation, and diarrhea. If you suffer from a “sensitive gut,” you may want to eliminate these from your diet and slowly reintroduce them with increasing quantities–to see how much your digestive tract can tolerate.
Brussel sprouts grow on a long inedible stalk as tiny cabbage-like buds. When purchasing, look for tightly closed and bright green leaves; yellow leaves may mean they are past their prime. There should be an earthy, herbaceous aroma to the sprouts–nothing that smells like “cabbage.” To clean: trim the ends and rinse in bowl of cold water. Let dry before storing in a re-sealable container in the crisper or vegetable section of your refrigerator, where they will stay fresh for up to a week and a half.
Brussel sprouts are rarely served in their raw form–but given the right treatment–they are a culinary delight. To soften the tough sprout leaves – massage them with a little bit of salt to break them down (this works for kale, too), or thinly slice to make a shredded slaw. In this recipe, we use the latter technique to create a lovely salad full of different textures. If using a mandoline to shred the individual sprouts, remember to use a guard to protect your fingertips. I find that thin-slicing the sprouts with a mandoline can be particularly difficult–due to the small size and globe-like shape of the vegetable. To slice by hand: halve the sprouts length wise to prevent them from rolling around on the cutting board and lay them cut side down to continue slicing.
Raw sprouts want to be served with fatty and assertive flavors. This recipe achieves that with a healthy dose of olive oil, pork fat from bacon, and the brightness of citrusy lemon and orange juice. Toasted almonds and sliced sugar snap peas adds texture and crunch. And if you are still in doubt about whether to try this salad, listen to the carnivore and “Tyrannosaurus Rexes” out there in this world. Those meat eaters who wrinkle their noses about vegetables – they try this salad and ask “will you make this again?” Why, yes–I will!
Serves: 8-10 as a side dish
Cook time: 20-25 minutes
Prep time: 40 minutes
Ingredients for the salad:
24 brussel sprouts
1 lb bacon crumbled or chopped
1 cup almonds, chopped
1 cup grated Pecorino-Romano cheese (may substitute parmigiano reggiano cheese)
10oz sugar snap peas, julienned
½ bunch green onions
Ingredients for the salad dressing**:
1 lemon
1 orange
1 large shallot, minced
½ cup good EVOO
Salt and pepper
The Procedure:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with foil and place cooling rack on top. Place the uncooked bacon pm the cooling rack. Bake for 20-25 minutes in the oven making sure to rotate the pain every 5 minutes to ensure even cooking. Remove from oven and let cool before chopping. Set side.
Juice the lemon and the orange into a large bowl. Strain the juices for any pulp and seeds. Mix in the minced shallots. Whisk in the olive oil in a steady steam forming an emulsion. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dressing should appear creamy. Refrigerate until ready to use. **I like a lot of dressing so I usually double the portion size.
Thinly slice with a knife or shave the brussel sprouts with a mandolin. The texture should be shredded like a slaw.
Place the almonds in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Toast the chopped almonds in a saute pan on medium-low heat for approximately 10 minutes or until slightly browned. Stir often to prevent your nuts from burning.
Julien slice the sugar snap peas on the diagonal. Chop the green onions.
In a large bowl combine the shredded brussel sprouts, green onions, sugar snap peas. Add ¾ of the almonds, cheese and bacon to the mixture and toss to combine. When ready to serve toss with the dressing and sprinkle the remaining almonds, cheese and bacon over the top.
Comments