When it comes to salad, I get tired of the standard greens and balsamic vinaigrette that dominates the menu selection at a lot of my typical lunch haunts. Plus if you can’t eat it all in one sitting, dressed salad doesn’t keep worth a damn no matter how lovingly you store it. Soggy salad just isn’t my cup of tea. When I grabbed a bagful of brussels sprouts at my weekly shopping run on Monday, I knew their raw crunchiness was just what I needed to break my salad woes.
I absolutely LOVE crunchy foods. Don’t worry, I’m a stickler for chewing with my mouth closed as quietly as I can, but when it comes to snap peas and the like, watch out. This salad seriously maximizes all possible crunchiness potential and the best part is that once it’s dressed you can still eat it the next day! No wilted lettuce in this kitchen. Though I’m not sure I’m ever going to get the orange carrot stain out of my wood cutting board..
Serves 4.
Ingredient List:
- 1 small head napa cabbage
- ~ 20 brussels sprouts
- 2 large carrots
- 4 green onions
- 1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds
- 2 heaping tbsp black sesame seeds
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp mustard
Kitchen Tools: food processor or mandolin (or some really good knife skills), julienne tool (optional), small saucepan
Prep Work:
Peel carrots. remove ends of brussels sprouts and peel off any browning leaves. Use your mandolin or food processor to slice the brussels sprouts lengthwise as thinly as possible. Julienne your carrots with either a julienne tool or your food processor. Take half the leaves from the napa cabbage, remove about an inch of the stem section and slice the remaining portion into thin strips widthwise.
Toast your sliced almonds in a dry saucepan until golden and fragrant. Thinly slice green onions and combine everything in a large mixing bowl.
Whisk together mustard, soy sauce, olive oil, honey, and vinegar. Pour dressing on top of veggies and mix with salad tongs. Top with black sesame seeds and your salad is ready to eat!
