TALKIN' SNACK

Brussels Sprouts Salad with Roasted Radicchio and Buttermilk Dressing:

• Bunch of Brussels Sprouts
• 1 Medium Sized Ridicchio
• Handful of Pine Nuts
• Parmesan Cheese

Buttermilk Dressing

• 1/2 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup of Buttermilk
• Pinch of Granulated Garlic
• Few squeezes from 1/2 a Lemon
• Sea Salt
• Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon of grated Parmesan

This is a great salad for any season.  You’ve got your brussels sprouts, that when eaten raw have a sweet cabbage taste to it.  The radicchio, a bitter leaf, but when roasted, not as bitter and adds an awesome warmth to the salad.  Nutty toasted pine nuts.  Buttermilk dressing…you get the picture.  This salad rules.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toast the pine nuts in a small sheet pan in the oven until golden.  Keep an eye on them, they toast kinda fast. 

Cut your radicchio in half, place on a small sheet pan and season with salt and pepper.  Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over them, and pop the radicchio into the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the leaves are wilted, crispy on some parts, and cooked fully. 

Meanwhile, peel off a couple of outer leaves off the brussels sprout, discard them, and rinse your sprouts with water.  The outer leaves are usually kind of beat up, so its good to toss those out.

Slice the brussels sprouts very finely, starting at the head of the sprout.  Leaving out the stem part.  Place all your sliced up brussels sprout into a salad bowl.  You may need to use your hands with separate some of the slices of the brussels sprouts, leaving you with slivers.  

When the pine nuts are toasted, add them with the sprouts.  When the radicchio is cooked, place them on a cutting board, and slice them thin, the same way you cut the brussels sprouts.  Add that to the salad bowl.

Now for the dressing.  Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing.  Taste it, if you feel it needs more buttermilk, parmesan or lemon go ahead and add more.  If you are making more salad, and therefore need to make more dressing, just double the ingredients.   

Add the dressing to the salad, and toss away.  Taste the salad, if it needs more salt or pepper at this point, add more.  Finish the salad off with some thin shavings of parmesan cheese, and you’ve got your self an awesome unique salad.