Bacon and Brussel Sprout Salad with Craisens…but first….

Okay, before I tell you about this fabulous Bacon and Brussel Sprout Salad with Craisens, let me take a blogger bragger moment and direct your attention to the top left corner of the picture of the salad… Okay. Are you there? Do you see those Brown Salad tongs that look professional? Well, they are the only ones like them in the world and were made for me by my sweet, wood carving husband! How cool is that?  There is a bigger picture of them right under this paragraph…

I feel like he has a wood carving gift, and now just as a hobby he is making custom salad spoons and selling them here on etsy.com. I just feel like these would make a great gift for any loved one. I don’t know a mother, sister, spouse, or aunt in the world who wouldn’t LOVE hand carved salad spoons. And, I’m not trying to use this blog as a money making place, I guess I’m just a proud wife, and I just feel like these are something you can’t go and buy at Walmart. They are definitely a  gift from the “heart-mart”:).

Okay, now back to the Bacon and Brussel Sprout Salad with Craisens. Umm. Yum…if your a salad person.  Yeah. I think I have eaten brussel sprouts maybe twice before this in my life and it was before I was married (I was probably like 8 years old) , and I have just never really had any reason to buy them since I’ve been cooking on my own, so I was more than intrigued when I found this salad, and was pleasantly surprised. I felt like the shredded  Brussels sprouts definitely tasted like cabbage, but softer, not quite as thick. We made this as our main dish at dinner, but I think it would make a better side dish for a BBQ, or accompanied with potstickers or something like that.  I even almost liked it better the second day because I feel like the flavors of the cheese and the bacon had a little more time to set in!

Bacon and Brussel Sprout Salad with Craisens

printable recipe 

printable recipe with picture

*Note: We had this as a main dish this week, and I loved it, but I think my husband and kids would have preferred it as a side to pot stickers, or to panini s or a BBQ. I feel like the brussel sprouts might be able to be replaced by cabbage, but I think the brussel sprouts are a little softer! 

*Serves 8-14 (depending on if you have it as a main dish, or a side…my family prefers it as a side!)

Ingredients:

1 lemon
1 orange
1 large shallot, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
6 slices cooked bacon, crumbled or chopped
4 dozen brussel sprouts
1 cup almonds
1 cup grated Pecorino-Romano cheese

1 cup Craisens

Directions: 

1. Cook and crumble the bacon.
2. Squeeze the juice of the lemon and orange into a large bowl with the shallots. Pour the oil into the bowl in a steady stream, whisking to form an emulsion (it should appear more creamy and less transparent). Season generously with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Using a mandoline (we used a blender), shave the brussel sprouts (not including the stems) into thin slices to make a shredded/slaw texture. I rinsed and dried mine again after shaving them just to be sure they were totally clean.
4. Place the almonds in a food processor and pulse until chopped coarsely. Add 3/4 of the almonds, cheese, craisens,  and bacon to the shredded brussel sprouts; toss to combine. When ready to serve, toss with the dressing and sprinkle remaining almonds, cheese, and bacon over the top. If needed, add a few more tablespoons of olive oil and toss.

 Keep in the fridge for 1-2 days.

Recipe Source: A fabulous blog I just found called Pinch of Yum or here.

08 Sep This entry was published on September 8, 2012 at 4:33 am. It’s filed under Main Dish, Sides/Salads, Uncategorized and tagged almonds, Bacon and Brussel Sprout Salad with Craisens, Cabbage like salad, or BBQ, pecorino-Romano Cheese, perfect salad for potluck. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.