Brussels Sprouts Salad with Apples and Walnuts

The house hunt is getting serious. Derek made an offer on the Cascade Heights house. The offer. The real one, with numbers and conditions and a pre-approval letter and the particular formality of American home-buying that makes the most personal decision of your life feel like a corporate transaction. We offered under asking. The seller countered. Derek counter-countered. I sat in the kitchen and let the project manager manage the project because some things are better left to men who think in spreadsheets.

Meanwhile: edits on the cookbook. Katherine sent notes. She wants to trim some recipes (sixty is too many for the page count) and expand some stories (the stories are the book, she keeps saying, and she's right, and I keep thanking God she sees what I see). The editing process is collaborative and sometimes bruising — she suggested cutting Mama's salmon cakes, and I spent twenty minutes on the phone explaining why the salmon cakes matter (Curtis's review, the taste of Brenda in the cooking, the breakthrough). She kept them. Sometimes you fight for the food the way you fight for the people. With everything you have.

Aaliyah stopped by on Saturday for Set the Table. She's going to the performing arts high school in August and she wanted to tell me in person. She stood in the church kitchen — the same kitchen where she cracked her first egg two years ago — and said, "I got in because of art. But I started here." She didn't say "thank you." She didn't need to. "I started here" was the thank you, was the testimony, was the whole story of a girl who ate cereal alone and learned to cook eggs and drew made-up flowers and turned the drawing into a future.

Made Mama's chicken salad for dinner — the simple kind, rotisserie chicken, celery, grapes, pecans, mayo, on croissants. Summer food. Easy food. The food of a woman who is editing a cookbook and buying a house and running a nonprofit and has no energy left for ambition at the stove but enough love to split a croissant and feed the people at her table.

Mama’s chicken salad was on croissants that night — simple and right and exactly enough. But on the evenings when the rotisserie chicken is already gone and the house offer is still hanging in the air and your brain has nothing left to give the stove, this Brussels sprouts salad with apples and walnuts is the other easy food I reach for: something crisp and alive and kind, with fruit and nuts and a dressing that does most of the work itself. It feeds you the way a good week should — without drama, without performance, just nourishment.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes | Servings: 4–6

Ingredients

1 lb Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and thinly shredded
2 medium crisp apples (such as Honeycrisp or Fuji), cored and thinly sliced
3/4 cup walnut halves, roughly chopped and lightly toasted
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup shaved Parmesan or Pecorino Romano
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Toast the walnuts. In a small dry skillet over medium heat, toast the chopped walnuts for 3–5 minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant and lightly golden. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Shred the Brussels sprouts. Using a sharp knife, mandoline, or food processor with a slicing blade, thinly shred the Brussels sprouts. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, salt, and black pepper until well combined. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Dress and soften. Pour the dressing over the shredded Brussels sprouts and toss well to coat. Let the salad sit for at least 5 minutes — this softens the sprouts slightly and lets the flavors come together.
Add the toppings. Add the sliced apples, toasted walnuts, dried cranberries, and shaved Parmesan to the bowl. Toss gently to combine. Taste once more and add a pinch of salt or a squeeze of lemon if it needs brightening.
Serve. Serve immediately for maximum crunch, or refrigerate for up to 2 hours before serving. The sprouts hold up well and the salad travels beautifully.

Nutrition (per serving)

Brussels Sprouts Salad with Apples and Walnuts — The Easy Food of a Busy Woman