I ran into Sharon in Lifesource yesterday and she said she always likes recipes on the blog, so I thought I share what we had for dinner last night…a shaved Brussels Sprouts salad…YUM. I stole the recipe from Caffe Mingo in Portland and adapted it to our fridge and dietary needs…and I “mused” on sprouts a little as I cooked. We spent the year in England in 1979-80 and got truly addicted to Brussels sprouts (…good thing, as it was the only green vegetable available…) and then about March, they disappeared. The season was over. Of course here we can get them ALL the time, but I think the season is drawing to a close, so let’s eat some sprouts!
I’ll give you the whole recipe first, and then the visuals:
Brussels Sprouts…some…cooked about 3-4 minutes
1 pear, sliced thinly (the Caffe Mingo recipe used apples…also delicious)
I hard boiled egg, sliced thinly
some craisins (raisins made out of cranberries)
pear vinaigrette (Trader Joe’s has a great Champagne/Pear Vinaigrette)
shaved parmesan
(bacon optional)
The salad calls for “shaved” sprouts using a mandolin, but for safety-sake I don’t own one of those (I wouldn’t want to jeopardize my ukulele career, after all, by removing a finger tip…). Here’s how I proceeded:
Cook the sprouts about 3-4 minutes until cooked but still firm and crunchy, drain and run in cold water…add some ice
slice as thinly as you can (put on cutting board, start at “top” and slice down to stem end…
slice pear and combine with sprouts, craisins to taste, (and bacon if you have it and want it) and dressing…
serve on a bed of small lettuce and put shaved parmesan on top…VOILA! Yummy
On The Way 
Mmm…yum! We’ll be trying this one!
Great seeing you and Roger at Life Source. And this great recipe bonus. Can’t wait to get back to Life Source for Brussels sprouts.
We’ve had brussels sprouts twice last week.. This sounds really yummy! But my body is crying for carbs as in pancakes.. I very seldom eat them..Our crazy cravings..
Your visuals are so rich and filling, I feel almost as satisfied as if I had just dined on this lovely dish.
you are soooo right. (san & dave)
Yum sounds right! Looks wonderful. My mandolin has a handle to press down with so my fingers are never where the blades are. I got it as a gift a few years ago and had never used it until this Christmas when I needed very very thinly sliced cucumbers for a Marcus Samuelson pickled cucumber recipe. Made me wonder why I had waited so long to try it out.
I KNOW they have guards…too cheap to buy yet another piece of kitchen equipment…my birthday’s coming though…??!?