My mom has been telling me for a year to try a raw brussels sprout salad that she’s in love with, and this weekend I finally grabbed the ingredients to make it. Then yesterday I saw an article in the Times dining section about weird-sounding menu items that will likely be really good, and the author mentions this exact salad. She says she had it at Franny’s in Brooklyn–I don’t know where Mom got the recipe but it’s exactly the same.

Regardless, I finally tried the raw brussels sprouts, Mom! And despite a mishap that perhaps damaged things a bit, they were very tasty. (I also want to try the kale salad from that article now.)

The obligatory Brussels Sprout Glamour Shot:

My mom shreds the sprouts on the mandoline, but I am lazy and used the shredding blade in the cuisinart. They get nice and fluffy.

You’re supposed to use chopped and toasted walnuts. I had walnuts in the freezer, I broke them up, I put them in the toaster oven to toast (um, using the oven setting), and then I set about doing a bunch of other things. I came back to the kitchen a few minutes later to be greeted by Ben unloading the dishwasher and acrid smoke seeping out of the toaster oven, which was full of blackened shards of walnut. Sad. Instead I chopped up leftover marcona almonds from the other weekend and used those. They were fine but the texture and slight bitterness of walnuts would have been way better. Lesson: Never abandon toasting nuts!

(hee.)

I dressed the sprouts with lemon juice and the great olive oil B&E brought, salt and pepper, and then tossed in the almonds and a generous handful of grated parmesan.

Stir it all together and voila! (Served with baby sweet potatoes, of which the less said, the better, and leftover sausage.)

I am jealous that Mom (who is visiting right this minute) will get to eat the leftovers (wilted a bit in the microwave, which she says may be even better than when it’s fresh) for lunch today. Yum.