I am back at it this week with this insanely delicious Kale and Brussel Sprout Salad Recipe with Beets, Sweet Potatoes, Dried Cherries, Pistachios, Bacon and Fried Goat Cheese tossed in a tasty creamy red wine vinegar dressing. I know I keep telling you that we are pushing to incorporate more greens into our diet and if this is what it takes to get there then count me in. You wanna talk about flavor? DUDE, this thing is loaded with goodness! Sure there are a few things I could eliminate to make this really healthy like the bacon and the fried goat cheese, but man it seriously gives it so much flavor and makes clean eating tolerable.
The problem I’ve always had with clean eating and trying to be plant first is that it is so life and time consuming. I mean you have to plan on so much stuff because there’s no gluten, no dairy, no meat, no cheese, no nothing and it takes time to develop recipes and ideas to accommodate such a lifestyle. While we are nowhere near perfect we’ve sort of met in the middle at chilling back on red meat, dairy and gluten and trying are darndest to be plant first. I do hope one day that I will be about 90% vegan because when do have those successful weeks, oh my gosh do we feel amazing. In those weeks where we are really heavy in plant eating I feel like I barely need coffee.
This Kale and Brussel Sprout Salad Recipe with Beets and Fried Goat Cheese is a variation of a bunch of other salads with a some new things sprinkled in, like fried goat cheese. I really love the recipes that I’ve made so going back to reinvent some older ones or just taking a couple ideas from them to make new ones is really fun. I knew I wanted to use julienne kale and finely shaven Brussel sprouts as the base for this salad because honestly I need as many earthy leafy greens as my body can get. As I get older I crave vegetables and few can deliver like kale does. I remember back in the day when kale was used as a garnish at steakhouses. In fact no one ever ate it because it was so bitter, but hey it was bright green and looked good. Fast forward 20 years and now people can’t keep their hands off of it lol, go figure.
I wanted to load this salad up with some tasty vegetables that are in season or are starting to come into season. Sweet potatoes and beets are loaded with flavor and nutrients so roasting them up and putting them on this kale and Brussel sprout salad was a no brainer. To keep things efficient I did everything in the same pan, including frying bacon and goat cheese. Of course after pan roasting the beets I wiped down the pan because I really didn’t want purple bacon. When frying the bacon I actually added a bit more oil because I decided halfway through cooking it that I wanted to fry the goat cheese in the bacon fat. SCORE!!!
The fried goat cheese was actually pretty easy to make and if I were to do it over again I would probably do an herb panko instead of just a simple panko. Don’t get me wrong, they are super good, I just think it could be better with herbs and seasonings in the bread crumbs. When cutting the log of goat cheese you may experience that it breaks up a bit, but no problem because you can absolutely mold it back to a circle. Goat cheese is sticky so honestly don’t worry about it falling apart. Once the goat cheese is cut then you simply dredge through the stations of a standard breading procedure.
The dressing I used for this Kale and Brussel Sprout Salad Recipe with Beets and Fried Goat Cheese is a really simple blend of mayonnaise, sugar, red wine vinegar and poppy seeds. The dressing is extremely creamy, tangy and sweet making it a perfect compliment to the bitter greens and roasted veggies. Make this one, I guaranteed you’ll enjoy it!
Kale and Brussel Sprout Salad Recipe with Beets and Fried Goat Cheese
Ingredients
For the Dressing:
- ½ cup of mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- ¼ cup of red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons of poppy seeds
For the Salad:
- 1 log of goat cheese sliced ½” thick
- standard breading procedures: 1 cup flour 2 whisked eggs, 1 cup of panko bread crumbs
- 2 cups of pan roasted medium diced sweet potatoes in 1 teaspoon of olive oil
- 2 cups of pan roasted medium diced red beets in 1 teaspoon of olive oil
- ½ cup of chopped crisp cooked bacon
- ½ cup of canola or healthier frying oil
- 1 head of trimmed julienne kale
- 15 thinly shaven Brussel sprouts
- ½ cup of dried cherries
- ½ cup of pistachios
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Dressing: Combine all ingredients together in a medium bowl and whisk. Keep cool before serving.
- Goat Cheese: Coat each goat cheese round in the flour, then eggs, then panko and set on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. keep cool before frying.
- In a large pan over medium high heat, roast the sweet potatoes and then the beets. Chill before serving.
- Clean the pan and cook the bacon until crispy. Chop the bacon and set aside.
- Add the oil to the frying pan and fry the goat cheese until they are lightly browned on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Remove and drain any fat before serving.
- To plate: Place the kale, Brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, beets, chopped bacon, cherries, pistachios, fried goat cheese, salt and pepper and dressing.
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