Brussels Sprout and Sunchoke Salad (A Perfect light winter meal)

• Food: Brussels Sprout and Sunchoke Salad 
• Writer: Nicolas Wilson
• Content-Type: Food Blog

What’s your favorite way to prepare sunchokes? Have you got one? This salad of caramelized sunchokes and Brussels sprouts is a delicious light winter supper.

Even though it’s no longer winter in Austin, I’m still trying to remember all of you snowbirds. This is where the winter sunchoke salad comes in. This sunchoke recipe is full of a toasty, roasty flavor with a zesty lemon dressing to lighten it up.

Cooking with Sunchokes

Have you ever tried cooking with sunchokes? Do you have a favorite sunchoke recipe? They’re new to me, but I adore them, so I was excited to create my sunchoke dish.

The texture of sunchokes, commonly known as Jerusalem artichokes, is similar to that of potatoes. I enjoy them thinly sliced and roasted as well as sautéed in butter and oil.

Fortunately, they’re not as starchy as potatoes, so they don’t add too much weight to the salad, but they do add a wonderful substantial bite, which I prefer in my salads.

This salad with sunchokes

This salad comes together quickly and easily thanks to the brussels sprouts being shaved.

They create a delicious caramelized flavor in just a few minutes in a skillet, a method that I’m amazed took me so long to figure out. But now that I’ve done so, I’m going to use it again and again.

The finely sliced sunchokes in this recipe are cooked in the same skillet as the Brussels sprouts, giving them a great, crisp contrast.

I combine the caramelized vegetables with pine nuts, salad leaves, a pinch of Parmesan, and a splash of the lemony Dijon dressing before serving.

Salad with Brussels Sprouts and Sunchokes

Ingredients

• 1 cup sunchokes, sliced about ⅛ inch thick (scrub them pretty well before slicing/using)
• 2 cups brussels sprouts, thinly sliced on a mandoline, if you have one
• A small handful of baby salad greens
• Combination of olive oil & butter for the pan. (I used vegan earth balance butter.)
• Red pepper flakes
• Pine nuts
• Parmesan cheese shavings (optional)
• Salt & pepper

Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Lemon juice from ½ a lemon
• Drizzle of honey (about ¼ to ½ teaspoon)
• Salt & pepper

Instructions

1. To make the dressing, combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the equation.
2. Before you start cooking the shaved brussels sprouts and sliced sunchokes, lightly salt them.
3. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and butter (use enough just to coat the bottom). When the oil is hot, add the sunchokes and sauté for 2-4 minutes per side, or until soft and slightly crunchy around the edges. When they’re done, take them out of the pan.
4. Clean the same pan and add more oil and butter to it. Cook for about 2 minutes per side, until the brussels sprouts start to turn golden brown around the edges. (Don’t overcrowd the pan; you may need to work in batches.) Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.
5. Toss everything together, including some of the dressing, in a large mixing bowl. Dress to taste and serve with additional dressing on the side. If desired, garnish with pine nuts, red pepper flakes, and Parmesan shavings.