Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad

Shaved Brussels Salad from www.whatsgabycooking.com (@whatsgabycookin)

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5 from 10 votes

The most perfect Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with with Pecorino, Marcona Almonds and Grapes! Prepare to be obsessed

Prep Time10

Cook Time0

Total Time10

Course: Side Dish, Salad

Cuisine: American

Servings: people

Author: Gaby Dalkin

Ingredients

1 lb Brussels Sprouts
1 lemon, juiced
2-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
½ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons minced shallot
3 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
2 cups red grapes, washed and halved
½ cup marcona almonds
½ cup shaved Pecorino or Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Using a mandolin or a very sharp knife, carefully thinly slice the Brussels sprouts. Place in a large bowl and toss to combine.
In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, shallot, garlic and season with salt and pepper.
Pour the dressing over the Brussels sprouts and toss to coat well. Sprinkle the grapes, Marcona almonds and pecorino cheese over the salad and toss to combine.

Notes

Use a mandoline or food processor for shaving. Hand-slicing 1 pound of Brussels is a wrist-and-patience drain; 90 seconds in a food processor with the slicing disc gives you uniform shreds.
Trim and remove tough outer leaves first. The yellow and damaged outer leaves taste bitter and stringy. Two seconds per sprout, worth it.
Dress 10 minutes before serving, not 2 minutes. Brussels are sturdy; they need a few minutes to absorb the dressing and soften slightly. This is the make-ahead step.
Salt the Brussels first, then let them sit 5 minutes. Brings out the natural sweetness and tames the raw bite. Then add the dressing.
Shave the Pecorino, don't grate it. Wide ribbons (vegetable peeler off the block) give visual contrast and a meatier cheese hit. Grated Pecorino disappears into the dressing.
Halve the grapes the same direction. Cut along the long axis, not the short. The longer ribbon distributes through the salad better than little spheres.
Don't toast the Marcona almonds. They're already fried in olive oil and salted; toasting again makes them too aggressive. Just chop and add.
Acid first, oil second. Whisk the lemon, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper together first. Then drizzle the olive oil in slowly to emulsify. Reverse order breaks the dressing.
Make the dressing in the bottom of the salad bowl. Skip the separate whisking bowl. Whisk in the bowl, pile the salad on top, toss when ready.
This is a make-ahead winner. Shave the Brussels and prep the cheese, grapes, almonds the night before; toss with dressing 10 min before serving. Holiday-friendly without any day-of stress.

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