Sweet and Sour Brussels Sprouts Slaw

All of the Thanksgiving posts going around, you can't avoid Brussels Sprouts. I'm not sure if they  have always been the rave, but in recent years I've noticed they seem to be the foodie must have. Truthfully, I have not always loved Brussels Sprouts. Honestly, I HATED them as a kid. They were always stinky, soggy and kind of gross. (sorry Dad) I'm still teased for feeding them to my cat, I really thought I was being slick. However it turns out they had a specific side effect her, and her gas-terous effects never ceased to rat me out. Just in the past few years I've decided to give them another chance and I have to say that I have without a doubt found the key to perfect booger I mean Brussels sprouts. Do not over cook them, do not under salt them, and adding bacon and sugar just makes them practically impossible to hate. (That is unless your eight.) I actually crave these beauties. They are scrumptious!

This dish is a very close match to most traditional German sides and salads. Its bacon, vinegar and sugar. Did I mention bacon? Really you can't go wrong. These types of salads are very popular in my house because the wonderful thing is that they are sweet, and sour, but not spicy.  Best yet they aren't fussy, just as with German potato salad, and of course Krautsalat you can serve this hot or room temperature. Perfect for a holiday buffet they can be made and set aside while you prepare everything else, and burn your turkey and/or rolls. 

Sweet and Sour Brussels Sprouts Slaw

This recipe is similar to caramelized Brussels sprouts, or even slaw. This is a very classic flavor combination, of sprouts, bacon and nuts. Candied walnuts are amazing, pecans, or cashews are also pretty delish. Its very common to add nuts, but my son has nut allergies so this time I kept them out thinking I would convert him... (Yeah right!) This is a very low maintenance dish, I cooked the sprouts in batches and left some raw. Using a cast iron pan there is a lot of residual heat so after the first few minutes I turned the heat off entirely.

1 1/2-2 pounds Fresh Brussels sprouts

4-6 slices bacon (grease reserved)

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 green onions, sliced thinly

sea salt & pepper

Remove the core from each Brussels sprout, and shred/slice fairly thin. You can use a food processor for this. I went old school and roughed it. 

Cut bacon slices into 1/4" pieces. Saute in a skillet until crisp. Remove bacon and set aside. Using the bacon grease in the pan (you can remove some if there seems to be more than about 3 tablespoons) Add brown sugar and cook about 1 or 2 minutes, only until it is dissolved. Be sure not to burn. To this add 2/3 of the shredded sprouts. You can cook it in batches, so they do not over cook (or a wicked large pan if you have it). They should only cook about 4 minutes. Once they are a vibrant green and slightly wilted they are cooked. Keep in mind the residual heat, you want them to remain crunchy. Soggy sprouts mean that  sulfuric funky taste. Add remaining 1/3 of the sprouts. Add salt and pepper to taste. More sugar as desired. Toss with green onion, reserved bacon and nuts if desired. 

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