Brussels Sprout Salad with Sour Cherries, Hazelnuts and Manchego Cheese

A favorite salad from La Grande Orange Cafe in Pasadena, provided the inspiration to create a dish using Bijouxs favorite little fall jewels, Brussels sprouts. Shaved into thin slices and quickly blanched, Brussels sprouts turn a vibrant green while retaining their crisp cabbage texture, making a perfect foil for this slaw-like salad. Spiked with bites of sour cherries, crisp toasted hazelnuts, thin wafers of Manchego cheese and tossed in a creamy mustard-miso dressing, this is a working salad that breaks from the crowd.

Brussels sprouts have enjoyed a bit of a Renaissance and now are often found fresh in most supermarkets, ready to be thinly shaved using a versatile handheld mandoline, or recently spotted already sliced at Trader Joe’s Markets. Fresh, frozen, or dried sour cherries work equally well as the sweet-sour fruit counterpoint and toasted hazelnuts or almonds provide the crunch. Creamy, salty sheep’s milk Manchego cheese along with the mustard-Miso dressing add a creamy dress for the salad. I like to munch on a bowl of cracked green olives and sip a cool glass of iced tea, this salad still says Summer, but with an eye to Fall.