It’s Spring!
Sort of.
The calendar certainly says it’s Spring & there have been a couple beautifully warm days, but they’re usually followed up by long sleeve weather & we’re at that strange point in between seasons where we’re sick of winter foods, but bright berries & tomatoes have yet to make their appearance at the markets.
So for now, enjoy what’s out there, specifically the Brussels sprouts & citrus, & make this salad. My friend, Laura, sent me a link to it almost a year ago, declaring it one of the best things she’s even eaten. I skimmed over the recipe, thought “sieved eggs sound hard” & pinned it for later.
Well, here we are later. Guess what? Sieved eggs are just hard boiled eggs pressed through a fine mesh sieve or strainer…not difficult at all & it makes the eggs so amazingly light & fluffy that you have to taste to believe. So after eating this salad for five solid days, I’m sorry that we waited so long. It was great as a side, it was great as a main dish. I can’t even imagine how much better it was at Bottega when Laura first tasted it.
SHAVED BRUSSELS SPROUTS SALAD
serves 4-6 as a main, 10-12 as a side
2 lemons (Meyer if available), juiced
1/2 orange, juiced
1 large shallot, grated
1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
6 eggs, hard boiled
roughly 3 dozen Brussels sprouts
1/3 cup almonds (Marcona if available), finely chopped
1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated
To make the vinaigrette, combine the citrus juices & grated shallot in a small bowl. Begin whisking the mixture & add the olive oil in a thin stream, continuing to whisk until everything is completely incorporated. Season with salt & pepper & refrigerate for at least 3o minutes.
For the salad, shave the Brussels Sprouts very carefully on a mandoline or using a sharp chefs’ knife. Add to a large bowl & set aside.
Take the hard boiled eggs & separate the whites from the yolks. Push the whites through a sieve (or fine mesh strainer like we did) into a small bowl. Do the same with the yolks in a separate small bowl. Keeping them separate is only for looks, so do as you will.
Pour about /4 of the chilled vinaigrette over the shaved Brussels sprouts & toss well to combine, adding more dressing if necessary. Sprinkle sieve whites, yolks, almonds & Pecorino over top & serve.
adapted from Bottega via The Daily Meal
that looks awesome!
I want to eat it all the time forever.
Your photo makes me want to make this… now that I can eat cheese and nuts and oil again! I’m putting in on my 2013 list for us to meet in person now that I am feeling back to normal. And eat.
We need to make this happen!