Gruyere and Brussels Sprouts Gratin

This sounds so good – and I, personally, love Brussel Sprouts! (my wonderful grown children used to all them “little footballs when they were little!) But hubby will NOT eat Brussel Sprouts and would know they were there even i I pureed them!) I wonder why I couldn’t make this same dish with small Broccoli Florets? that would be equally yummy – and if I add cheese to a dish, he LOVES it! I even add a handful (or more!) of grated Parmesan, Romano and Asiago cheese blend to jarred spaghetti sauce…..you’d never know it was jarred sauce! (and it cuts down the acid from the tomatoes, making it easier on my problem tummy!)

Just recently discovered your recipes and am loving them. My computer crashed recently, and I lost all of the hundreds off recipes I’ve collected over the past many years.. So it’s been great to find your recipes to get started on a whole new collection!

Here’s my recipe for Maple Vinaigrette Dressing that I use on my spinach salad….it is SO good!
Maple-Vinaigre3tte Dressing
1/4 cup Olive Oil
4 tsp Lemon Juice (fresh squeezed almost required here)
2 Tbsp Maple Syrup*
1 tsp. GOOD QUALITY mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

* MUST use REAL good quality Maple Syrup – NOT “pancake syrup or corn syrup with maple flavor!)
Mix all together well. Refrigerate….BUT remove from fridge a couple hours before using – should be used at room temp, for max. flavor.
I use a jar and shake very well right before serving.

My baby spinach salad is almost like a dessert….I use sectioned grapefruit and oranges – which I supreme right before using.
I also add cut up strawberries and seedless grapes. I cut grapes in half to release more of the flavor. I add a bit (to taste) off VERY thinly sliced red onion. should be translucent – VERY thin sliced and cut into “arcs”. I like to mix the fruit (and onion) with the spinach at least a couple hours before serving – to allow some marriage of flavors. Drizzle on dressing right before serving.
This is served with crumbles, fresh goat cheese. Occasionally I like to add some toasted pine nuts to my salad for just a bit of extra crunch and a new note of flavor.
Because it takes a bit of time to supreme the oranges and grapefruit, this is a bit ‘labor-intensvie” and probably not one you’d want to make when . quick meal is needed, Sometimes, I supreme the grapefruit and orange ahead of time…and dressing can be made ahead of time as well….

Note: I always use Baby Spinach for this salad. If you don’t have baby spinach, you can use regular, FRESH spinach, and tear up the leaves….but flavor is not as good, in my opinion. Even though spinach comes all “triple-washed” and “ready to eat”, I always wash in very cold water, drain well and keep in fridge until ready to use. This also “crisps up” the spinach a bit and makes for a fresher, tastier salad!

Hope you give this a try….hubby LOVES this salad and raves about it….I always try to make extra so I’ll have some for lunch the nest day.