I never met a kielbasa I didn’t like – until I saw all the sugar involved… I searched our local grocery store for kielbasa without sugar to no avail. I literally gave up, resigned to the fact I would never again enjoy kielbasa warmed on the stove with a mustard dipping sauce.

That was a dark day.

I finally found a brand with no sugar and is uncured – now it’s the only brand we’ll eat (if you can find this you would do well to try it; no one needs the extra sugar in their kielbasa).

You Will Need:

* Wild Blueberries (always found in the frozen section)

* Kielbasa

* Brussel Sprouts (fresh)

* Olive Oil

* Salt and Pepper

Brussel Sprouts are not a favorite in every household but, I’ve come to take the inventive challenge on enthusiastically – much like I’ve done with cauliflower. Can I mask the taste. Can I be original. Can I make it in twenty minutes or less.

In this case, we’re going to make petals out of the sprouts which will work as a bed for the meat. The petal shapes will hold the berry dressing so each bite has flavor of smokey salty meat and sweet berries.

(See the kielbasa I used above)

Start by cutting the rough ends off the sprouts.

In some cases the petals will start to fall off automatically.

Place the sprouts you’re ready to peel in a bowl and bring another one with you. You can do this while watching tv or just standing up in your kitchen numbing out. Peel as much as you can, each petal off the sprouts. When ready, cut them down once more to get the rest off. You should have a bowl full at this point.

The little heads with no petals continuing to come off can be put aside and saved to eat steamed whole at another point.

Start a pot of water to bowl. Once boiling, add the petals and set the timer for five minutes.

Add your salt to the water and leave on a rolling boil with the lid off.

Meanwhile, get your bowl you held the petals in and place some ice and some cold water in it (no ice – just use cold water as close to the timer going off as you can to keep it cold).

Once the five minutes is up, using a slotted spoon, place the petals into the water.

This will accomplish two things: keep the vibrant color and also stop them from continuing to cook; you want these al dente.

Place them out on a platter or a colander to dry.

In a separate pan, pour your berries directly in. There’s no set amount, just factor in the amount of people you’re feeding knowing that leftovers can be kept in the fridge and used over chicken or fish.

Turn the oven on medium low and leave the lid half on to allow steam to escape. You’re going to be rendering these down to grab their juice so also find a spoon or in my case, I used a mini potato masher from Sur la Table.

Once they start to break open you’ll see juice in the pan.

At this point, go ahead and start to press into the berries to coax more juice to come out.

When you think you’ve gotten as much as you can, turn off the stove and remove the pan from the heat.

With a slotted spoon, separate the berries from their juice (my husband will add the berries to his smoothies or brunch).

Let everything just sit and cool down…

Get your kielbasa out (see brand and nutritional information).

For two people and possibly leftovers, I cut the kielbasa in half and fridge the rest. Cut down the piece or whole kielbasa into bite sized pieces.

Heat a skillet with some olive oil on medium / medium low and place in your kielbasa, making sure each piece has a side touching the pan.

You’ll see them start to get a bit darker and crispy when you wait a few minutes and flip them.

At this point after an additional few minutes, they will start to stick to the pan. Since you’ve browned each side it’s ok to now just move them all around so they release from the pan. Leave them in just a little bit longer so the juices and flavoring release into the olive oil.

Turn off the heat and move the pieces to a separate bowl.

After you do that you will see the left over oil that has been infused with the kielbasa, go ahead and pour that in with your berry juice.

Now you can plate, making sure to give a generous helping of the petals, then topping with the meat and whisk the oil and berry juice together before using a spoon to drizzle over the salad.

The first thing you will notice is a complete absence of brussel sprout taste. Then it’s that salty meat flavor with the sweet berries and silky olive oil (infused with more smokey kielbasa seasonings).

And in case you didn’t already know, blueberry juice stains so… don’t lick the plate. Though Lord knows we did try.