This week, we started the process of interviewing candidates for our intern position.
When I say “our,” I mean the combination of myself, Sarah from Wisconsin from Scratch, and Bowen of Bowen Appetit. Together, we’re looking to find someone to help with social media and marketing of our blogs, and in Bowen’s case, her business.
This idea was sparked a month or so back, when we got together for lunch at Cooper’s Tavern and all unashamedly ordered the same thing: the Brussels sprout salad. So it’s only appropriate that I choose this week to recreate it.
This isn’t your typical start-of-the-meal salad. It’s base of romaine lettuce is coated in a creamy garlic dressing, then tossed with Brussels sprouts, bacon, blue cheese, and croutons. It’s heavy enough to be served as a main course or perhaps paired with a cup of soup.
The star of the show is naturally the Brussels sprouts, which are ample at the markets right now.
And if you’re going to go through the trouble of making the dressing from scratch, I recommend you follow along and make about three times the amount you need for the salad. Then proceed to use it throughout the week.
We’re pretty impressed with all the people we’ve interviewed so far, and we’re hoping to have someone selected within the next week or two. To welcome them to the team, I’m thinking it’d be appropriate to cook them their favorite homemade meal. They are, after all, college students.
- 3 heads of garlic
- olive oil
- Kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
- 2½ tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Stale bread, cut into squares, resulting in about 1½ cups of croutons
- olive oil
- Kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 3 slices thick cut bacon, chopped into ½ inch pieces
- ¾ lb Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
- 9 oz romaine lettuce
- ½ cup blue cheese, crumbled
- Preheat oven to 325.
- Slice off a ½ inch of the top of the garlic head and peel off a little of the skin, making sure that the cloves stay together. Place on baking sheet, cut side up, and sprinkle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Flip garlic so it's cut side down and bake for an hour. Let cool completely.
- Squeeze out garlic cloves and mash into a paste using a fork or mortar and pestle.
- In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, garlic mash, Parmesan, cream, and lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasoning. If dressing is too thick, thin out with a little additional lemon juice. Set aside.
- Increase oven temperature to 400.
- Lay bread pieces single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake for 10-15 minutes until bread has browned. Let cool completely.
- Cook bacon in a large skillet until crispy. Transfer bacon bits to a paper-towel lined plate.
- Add Brussels sprouts, cut side down, to skillet with bacon fat. Cook until they are bright green and slightly crispy. Remove from heat.
- Toss lettuce leaves with about ⅓ of dressing. Top with Brussels sprouts, bacon bits, blue cheese, and croutons.
Hands down the best brussels sprout salad I have seen, those croutons are especially my favourite – think I could devour and snack on a bowlful of them by themselves. Pinned!
writes Thalia @ butter and briocheThank you Thalia! Totally appropriate to just double the croutons and dip them in the dressing after finishing the salad :)
writes VickyGorgeous looking salad with brussels sprouts – I love brussels sprouts, so I need to try this! Pinned!
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