A warm salad for winter
The next time you plan a dinner of roast chicken or beef, a chef from British Columbia recommends adding this lusty coolweather warm salad.
Brussels sprouts have a long season and a growing fan base.
Chef Rod Butters, author of The Okanagan Table: The Art of Everyday Home Cooking (Figure 1 Publishing, $37.95), roasts the sprouts and adds bacon and apples in an easy, last-minute dish.
This chef, whose restaurant in Kelowna is called RauDZ Regional Table, has written a user-friendly cookbook with magnificent photographs.
His advice is to eat local but also to try unusual combinations of fresh foods and offbeat seasonings. He also recommends gathering friends and family in the kitchen while you turn out part of the meal and the others pitch in to prepare the other dishes, such as this salad. Use a crisp apple such as Granny Smith or Cortland.
BRUSSELS SPROUTS SALAD Serves: 4
1 lb (454 g) fresh brussels sprouts 2 tbsp (30 mL) grapeseed or vegetable oil Sea salt and freshly ground pepper 4 slices thick-cut bacon, cut in chunks 1 medium dry shallot, finely chopped 1 large crisp apple, in thick wedges 3 tbsp (45 mL) apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp (15 mL) yellow or black mustard seeds
1. Preheat oven to 400 F (205 C). Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Trim outer leaves from sprouts and drop leaves into the boiling water to blanch for 15 seconds.
2. Lift with slotted spoon into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking, then drain and set aside.
3. Put the sprouts in a large bowl, add the oil and toss until sprouts are coated. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Place on a baking sheet and roast in preheated oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Set aside to cool.
5. Heat a large, heavy frying pan over medium heat, and cook bacon until almost crisp, turning, four to six minutes.
6. Add chopped shallot, lower heat to medium-low and cook another two to three minutes. Add apples and cook another three to four minutes, until tender.
7. Pour in the vinegar, stir in mustard seeds, and toss. Then add the sprouts and stir to combine ingredients.
8. Serve, trimmed with the blanched sprout leaves. julianarmstrong1@gmail.com