Recipe for Shaved and Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Roasted Pears from Everything I Want to Eat: Sqirl and the New California Cooking cookbook.
Shaved and Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Roasted Pears
Print This Recipe Yield 6Source Jessica KoslowPublished“Warren pears are super sweet and have a velvety, grit-free texture like butter that gives this dressing great body. If you can’t find any, use red d’Anjou.” Jessica Koslow
Ingredients
- 2–3 Warren pears (1 pound 5 oz. or 600 g. total)
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter (85 g.)
- 2 tablespoon champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- fine sea salt
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 ½ pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed (just over 1.1 kg.)
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
- 3/4 cup pomegranate arils (130 g.)
- ⅓ cup toasted chopped hazelnuts (45 g.)
- ¼ cup lightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped, plus more for garnish (13 g.)
- ½ lemon
Directions
Cut the pears lengthwise into quarters, scoop out the cores, and trim off the stems.
Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a wide pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 pear (4 quarters), cut sides down, to the pan and cook until lightly caramelized, about 2 minutes. Rotate and caramelize the other cut sides for another 1 to 2 minutes, until tender but not mushy.
Transfer to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the champagne vinegar, honey, and ½ teaspoon salt. Blend until completely pureed. Then, with the motor running, slowly drizzle in the oil and continue blending until the dressing is emulsified.
Cut 1 lbs. (455 g.) of the Brussels sprouts in half. Doing so will cause some of the outermost leaves to fall off. Keep the loose leaves in a little pile on your cutting board.
Return the pan to the stove and heat over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons (60 g.) butter. As soon as the foam subsides, add the cut Brussels to the pan, arranging each one cut side down. (I know this seems like a pain, but it will ensure that the sprouts cook evenly.) Cook, without stirring the sprouts, for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip, season evenly with ½ teaspoon salt, and cook the rounded sides for another 2 minutes.
Add the reserved outer leaves and the sherry vinegar, and shake the pan to distribute. Cook for 10 more seconds, just to wilt the leaves, then transfer to a plate.
Shave the remaining raw Brussels sprouts thinly on a mandoline. (Fingers, be careful!) This takes forever with a knife, but a food processor fitted with a slicing/shredding blade would also work. Toss the shaved sprouts into a large bowl. Add the pomegranate seeds, hazelnuts, parsley, about three-quarters of the dressing, and ½ teaspoon salt.
Toss to coat everything well. Taste, adding a bit more salt or dressing to the plate if you want. Thinly slice the remaining pear quarters. Serve the salad with the pan-roasted Brussels and the sliced pears tucked in. Finish with a big squeeze of lemon juice, and a handful of parsley on top.
