Have you noticed that many recipes are essentially formulas? Want a good salad dressing? Just combine 3 parts oil with 1 part acid plus an emulsifier (like mustard), whisk together, and you’re done. Maybe throw in some salt and pepper, some herbs or something sweet like honey. Salad dressings can go in all kinds of directions and have drastically different tastes, but the basic formula remains the same. Like many creative endeavors, a recipe often begins with a tried and true formula that’s essentially being riffed on by the recipe creator.

Just like a young composer doesn’t have to be Mozart in order to write a decent piece of music, a home cook does not have to be an accomplished chef in order to make some tasty meals! We just need to know some good formulas. Once we understand how and why those formulas work, we have much more creative license to play and experiment, and we’ll likely discover some new tricks along the way.

I hope that by now the word has reached you that boiling or steaming Brussels sprouts whole is NOT a good formula. Please just don’t do that to yourself or to your Brussels Sprouts, who instead loooooove to be sliced in half and roasted in the oven. At least that’s how I was regularly cooking them until I discovered a new formula that works brilliantly thanks to the magic of shredding them in the food processor. Essentially in creating this recipe I applied my recipe for cooking greens to cooking shredded Brussels sprouts.

Here’s my basic formula for cooking greens:

greens + oil + salt + acid = a delicious result

As with all recipe formulas, each element can be adjusted and played with, but the overall formula generally yields a tasty result. Perhaps one night you want to use kale with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Perhaps another night you want some collard greens with bacon fat and apple cider vinegar (a winning combo by the way).

Should I have the time and inspiration, there are two extra elements that I like to add to this formula. Those elements are crunch and sweetness. That crunch element can usually come from nuts or seeds (try some toasted pine nuts or sunflower seeds or even some chopped hazelnuts), and the sweet element can come from fresh or dried fruit (think raisins, sultanas, chopped dates, dried cranberries, pomegranate seeds, sliced apples, or oranges).

Today’s recipe for Brussels sprouts applies this formula to a truly delicious result. I’ve been wanting to share this recipe with you for awhile now. Because of its festive appearance I had hoped to share it around Christmas time (oops!). Better late than never. And I’ll be sure to remind you about it when Christmas rolls around again.

I’ve been putting a version of this recipe into my weekly meal rotation throughout the winter. I don’t always do it exactly the same way. Sometimes I’ll skip the seeds and cranberries. Other times I’ll use a plain balsamic vinegar instead of the figgy one, or I’ll switch it up entirely and use lemon juice, maybe throw in some pistachios. No matter what I do it’s just about always good!

If you follow the measurements I’m sharing with you today the end result should make you say to yourself “Damn, that’s yummy!” At least that’s what I said to myself when I did the final test on this recipe. However, you’re welcome to play around with it and adjust to your tastes. I aim for my recipes to be flexible, forgiving, and easy, and this one in my opinion hits that mark. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Let me know what you think!

Shredded Brussels Sprouts with pumpkin seeds and cranberries

Ingredients

1 lb Brussels Sprouts, washed, trimmed, and shredded in the food processor (use the slicing attachment)*
1/8 cup Pumpkin Seeds (a small palmful), toasted
1/4 cup Dried Cranberries
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp Coarse Sea Salt
1 Tbsp Savory Fig Balsamic Vinegar**

Method

1. Start by preparing the Brussels Sprouts. Don’t be perfectionistic about washing and trimming them! Since they’re all destined to be shredded up in the food processor you don’t need to worry about cutting them in half or making them into any special sizes. Just wash, cut off the stem end, and peel off any leaves that don’t look great.

*If you don’t have a food processor, you can cut each Brussels sprout in half and slice into thin shreds. This will take you a bit more time (sorry about that), but it will lead to a similar result.

2. Heat the olive oil on medium heat in a large skillet. Having a good amount of surface area in which the sprouts can cook helps them to cook quickly and brown up a little bit (which means more flavor!), but you can also get this done in a smaller pan if need be. 2 tablespoons might seem like a lot of olive oil, but I’ve found the sprouts are pretty thirsty and soak it all right up (in a tasty way).

3. Pour the shredded Brussels sprouts into the pan and sprinkle with the salt. Stir together to combine and coat thoroughly with the olive oil.

4. Let cook for about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want them to be tender and wilty, ideally with a bit of browning starting to happen.

5. When sprouts are ready turn off the heat. Add the savory fig balsamic vinegar and stir to combine thoroughly.

**I used this brand of vinegar. I love the hint of fruitiness that it gives this recipe. It truly does make a difference, and it’s also great for winter salad dressings. However, if you don’t have this on hand, then you could certainly try the recipe out with a regular balsamic vinegar or even something like a red wine vinegar. I just can’t promise that it will taste exactly the same.

6. Sprinkle in the toasted pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries and stir again.

7. Taste, serve, and enjoy!

Usually this recipe makes enough for a generous side dish for mine and my husband’s dinner, with some leftovers for the following day. I’m guessing it could serve as a side dish for 4 people at a dinner, and you could certainly double the recipe if you needed it to feed more folks.

Tried it? Let me know what you think.

What are your go-to recipe formulas? I’d love to know about them.