When life hands you brussels sprouts, make … Well, some people might wonder just what they did to make life despise them so. Others, like Will Farrell, relegate them to a punchline.
Fresh & Bangin’ Eatery chef John Arslanian takes the often maligned vegetable and creates a remarkable salad. In fact, the fried brussels sprouts with charred goat cheese salad served at the Lucerne destination will be the dish you ramble on about, long after your waiter or waitress clears the table after dessert.
Arslanian sears the brussels sprouts, caramelizing the outer leaves. The pan not only blunts some of the vegetable’s acerbic nature, it also leaves behind a snug, smoky trace. He develops this note further by applying a torch to crumbles of goat cheese, soothing the pungent edges.
He explores these hearthy, smoldering flavors further by tossing in crackling bits of applewood smoked bacon.
“I think the fat and smokiness of the bacon take care of the brussels sprouts’ bitterness,” Arslanian explained.
The combination might prove almost lurid — rich, acrid and beckoning like a siren by playing to our most primal instincts. But Arslanian ennobles the temptress in a manner both time tested and ingenious.
He whisked in a kind of gastrique.
The dressing involves sesame seed oil to underscore the smoky haze with a mellow, nutty savor and pomegranate. The sweet-tart scalpel leaves barely noticeable incisions in the churlish sprouts and slivers the harsher notes that might lurk the scorched elements.
“It brings the dish together,” Arslanian observed.
Reaching perfection, the chef then decides to redefine the word.
After a sprinkle of micro greens, Arslanian tops the salad with a beautiful fried egg. The runny yolk, oozing over the brussels sprouts and bacon, is the color of the early morning sun. The shimmering porcelain white feels as light as gossamer.
And the whole idea might seem a bit, well, daft. But the richness and earthy flavor again find favor in the steaks of meat and pan searing.
“Who doesn’t like a fried egg?” Arslanian asked with a knowing smile. “Every chef is crazy. I just thought it needed a little more fat.”
In a salad involving brussels sprouts, fresh from a local farm, Arslanian discovered that elusive space beyond expectation, beyond earthbound perfection.
Maybe that’s what Jennifer Lawrence meant when she compared a performance by Adele to brussels sprouts. Under the right spell, the vegetable can become something wondrous.
“Every dish wants texture, color, earthiness, bitter, sweet, savory,” Arslanian said. “I think we balanced it.”
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
