Brussels Sprouts and Radish Salad

Continuing my experiments in search of a luscious red and green veggie dish, I tried Brussels sprouts and radishes. This is a delicious, light salad.

• ½ cup yellow onion
• 2 cups shredded Brussels sprouts (measure after shredding)
• 1 cup thinly sliced and chopped radishes
• Lemon
• 3 TBSP Asiago Cheese
• 8 pecans, toasted and chopped

I chopped and mixes the onions, radish, and Brussels sprouts. I squeezed the juice of one fresh lemon, added some salt and pepper and tasted. It was a bit too tart, but I didn’t want to add oil, so I added some cheese which offset the lemon’s tart bite. I added some pecans for texture and a bit of umami.

This was delicious. It’s light and delicate, with just the tiniest bit of cheese to balance the lemon juice and lemons love Asiago cheese and pecans. They are a magical combination that makes any vegetable delicious.

This made four servings since I am experimenting for potluck fixings, not just myself.

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Brussels Sprouts & Radish Salad with Candied Almonds

Yesterday volunteers spent a couple hours in the rain to distribute fresh produce to local residents. A project of the Oregon Food Bank, Harvest Share is open to everyone in the area. All they ask is your zip code and how many are in your household and if you have been there before. Food banks are dominated by nonperishable foods, lots of carbs, canned food, and frozen food. There’s very little fresh produce, so Harvest Share which is all about fresh produce is a wonderful option.

However, Harvest Share gives a lot of a few items, like about ten pounds of radishes and 6 pounds of Brussels Sprouts. Hmmm, time to think outside the box. I found a recipe by Jeremy Fox featured by Martha Stewart who has never released a bad recipe, but I didn’t have celery hearts, almond oil, or even an assortment of different radishes. It did sound like a good place to start, though. I like nutmeg with Brussels sprouts and I thought it would work with this recipe with a few alterations. Of course, I cut it in half as well to make it a single salad entree.

Make the garnish first because it must be cooled down first.

Garnish:

• 2 TBSP sliced almonds
• 1 TBSP sugar

Toss these in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook, shaking the pan so the sugar gets over all sides of the almond slices and cook until the sugar caramelizes. Removed quickly so it does not burn and let cool on some parchment paper. Break it up on the salad when it is cooled.

Salad:

In a cast iron skillet over medium heat, heat some freshly grated nutmeg until you smell its aroma. Add the butter and let it melt before adding the garlic. Cook about two minutes, softening the garlic.

The Brussels sprouts need to be broken down for salad. Cut off the ends and then cut away quarters from the center, discarding the core. Break it up with your fingers into leaves. Add to the garlic and butter and cook, stirring so all the Brussels sprouts are coated and let cook until warm, but not limp. Squeeze the fresh lemon juice and stir it in and transfer to your salad bowl.

Put the sliced radishes on top and then add the candied almonds.

• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 TBSP butter
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• Salt and pepper
• 8 oz. Brussels sprouts, broken down into leaves.
• 4 radishes, cleaned and sliced thin
• 1/2 fresh lemon, squeezed

The salad is delicious. There is something luscious about mixing savory and sweet, the garlic, the lemon, the candied almonds. It also has a lovely mix of textures, the tender leaves, the crunchy radish, and the crispy almonds. You could use a nut oil or olive oil instead of butter for a vegan option, but it would lose the richness of butter and garlic and lemon coming together in mouth-watering dressing.

Yum!

Zacatecas Cole Slaw

I was passing the radishes at WinCo and saw how big and beautiful they were, unblemished and at their peak. I could not resist grabbing a bunch. I also got two big heads of cabbage and about a pound of cilantro at the Oregon Food Bank’s Harvest Share so I really needed to figure out something to use them. I remembered how La Sirenita would add slices of radish as a garnish and got this crazy idea of making a Mexican cole slaw. I looked at a few recites for ensalada de repollo, but didn’t find anything that appealed to me.

• 1/2 head of cabbage sliced thin, salted and rested in a colander for 20 minutes. Squeeze out liquid.

Add

• 1/2 red onion sliced thin and chopped
• 4 large radishes sliced horizontal, as thinly as possible
• 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
• Zest from 1 lime (get all the zest you can)

Mix well using blender or Magic Bullet.

• 1 fresh lime, juiced
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 TBSP rice vinegar
• 1 tsp chile powder
• Salt and pepper

So, the traditional ratio for a vinaigrette is 3:1 oil and acid (vinegar) and this is closer to 1:1 with the lime juice. But that’s how I like it, I am happy with just vinegar, but it really needs the oil to make the vinegar adhere to the veggies and suspend all the spices, so I never do 3:1 even if that is the proper ratio. Cooking is about personal preferences and I will use a Magic Bullet to help these emulsify even though the ratio is out of balance. It is what I like. For a more traditional dressing, 3 TBSP of olive oil to 1 TBSP of vinegar.

This is not a single serving because this salad tastes better the second, third and fourth days. It makes 8 to 10 servings. I love this on a tostada with some broiled carne asada.

Apple Chicken Salad

This is a quick and easy salad using some of the chicken reserved from the soup I made. I chopped up about 1 cup of chicken with 1 chopped Pink Lady Apple and 1 stalk of celery. I added about 1/4 of a yellow onion, diced and one sliced radish. I made a dressing of 1 TBSP mayonnaise, some freshly squeezed lemon juice and just a drop of soy sauce. A little salt and pepper to taste and served on the outer leaves of romaine. It could be too mild flavored if not for the onions and radish that gave it just enough bite to counter the mild flavors of chicken and apple.