Brussels Sprout Salad with Mustard Dressing

Ingredients

Dressing

I must admit I grew up hating Brussels Sprouts, they were always mushy and pale and tasted as bad as they looked if not worse, turns out not cooking them vastly improves their taste(Who knew?)! Well  La Grande Orange Café in Santa Monica, CA did,  I tried this salad there years ago and I have been making it ever since with a few tweaks ( …..alright shortcuts) They blanch their Sprouts to soften them I leave mine in the dressing for a while as I never get the blanching right and after peeling 2Lbs of Sprouts I am looking for a shortcut. Look for the larger ones as the small ones will not yield very much, I got a 2 lb bag from Costco. You could probably buy the shredded ones and be done.  The Smoked Almonds add a bacon flavor with out adding meat.

This makes a lot of dressing store it in the fridge for other salads.

1. Cut the bottom off the Brussels Sprouts, Peel as many outer leaves off the Sprouts as you can (save the inner core and shred them  for another recipe).
2. Make Dressing by zesting the Lemon then juicing it, mix all ingredients except oil add that last by slowly drizzling it in as you mix to incorporate everything.
3. Chop the Cranberries and Almonds (put the Almonds in a ziplock and crush them slightly ) use either whole if you want.
4. Mix Brussels Sprouts with dressing, use just enough dressing to cover leaves so they soften you can do this up to a half hour or hour before serving.
5. Mix through the Cranberries & Almonds.
6. Shave Manchego over the salad this adds a great flavor.