Husband’s absolute favourite vegetable is Brussel sprouts. Now that winter has finally faded into distant memory and warmer weather feels like it’s here to stay, I was wondering if there was any way I could use this nutrient powerhouse of a veg in a salad.

As luck would have it, my friend Sarah told me about her new favourite cookbook. By Lorraine Pascale, it is called Eating Well Made Easy and features lots of recipes using sirt foods. This is one of those which, luckily for Husband, uses raw Brussels.

SHAVED RAW BRUSSELS SPROUT SALAD WITH HAZELNUTS, POMEGRANATE AND PUMPKIN SEEDS

Ingredients serves 4 – 6
75g pumpkin seeds
500g Brussels sprouts, outer leaves removed
100g roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
400g can puy or green lentils, drained (or 250g pack of ready to eat puy lentils)
75g raisins
150g pomegranate seeds
Dressing:
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

How to prepare
Put a medium frying pan on a medium-high heat and dry-fry the pumpkin seeds for two to three minutes until toasted and just beginning to pop. Remove and tip on to a small plate to cool.

Mix the dressing ingredients together in a really large bowl and season well with salt and pepper.

Very thinly slice the sprouts by hand (or use the slicing attachment if you have a food processor for a speedier job).

Toss the sprouts, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts, lentils, raisins and all but a handful of pomegranate seeds into the dressing, giving it a good mix all together. Spoon the salad out on to a large platter, sprinkle the remaining pomegranate seeds over the top and serve.