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Tricks with brussel sprouts


SobaAddict70

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People seem to have a hate affair with brussel sprouts. Something about little bunches of gas served on a steam table just waiting for a gastric inferno. :blink:

I used to dislike them intensely until I discovered roasted brussel sprouts a couple of years ago. Sliced in half, drizzled with EVOO and a toss of kosher salt, then roasted at 325 F for 45 min. to an hour, these are amazing and as sweet as candy.

Now, sometimes, I deleaf each sprout, cook the leaves down with garlic and slow-cooked onions, butter and/or EVOO, a bit of anchovies and a pinch of red pepper flakes, and sauce that with pasta. The onions and EVOO form the base of the sauce. Generous grind of cracked black pepper or fried bread crumbs to top it off.

A new trick I've done is to shave each sprout with a mandoline, cook with some duck fat, salt, pepper, and chopped apples. Combine with a little red cabbage, apple cider vinegar. Serve as a side dish with pork chops or roast chicken.

Any favorite things to do with brussel sprouts? Brussel sprout tempura, anyone?

Soba

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I also hated brussel sprouts since I'd only had them steamed. However, I've always felt that American kids would eat their vegetables if their parents prepared them the way mine did--stir-fried. So, a few years ago, I sliced new brussel sprouts really thinly, and stir-fried them in the wok with olive oil and some kosher salt. I basically toss them to coat, then put the wok cover on for 30 seconds or so, then just before removing them I let them sit a few seconds to get a nice charring.

I've also deleafed them, but I'm usually too lazy.

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Any favorite things to do with brussel sprouts?  Brussel sprout tempura, anyone?

Soba; I am a big fan of Brussels sprouts, although that's a distinctly minority position in my family. My favorite recipe uses bacon, red onion, brown sugar, red wine vinegar and Parm Reg. Clean and trim the sprouts, then blanch in salted water for about 5 minutes and let them cool. Saute diced bacon in a sauce pan until most of the fat is rendered, add a quartered, thinly sliced red onion and saute until it is soft and translucent. Then add brown sugar and wine vinegar and cook until thoroughly mixed and heated through (this should yield a syrupy sauce). Put sprouts an oven proof dish, pour the bacon/onion mixture over them, and dust heavily with grated Parm Reg. Cover with foil and bake at 350* F for 15 minutes. [Optional: uncover for the last 5 minutes to let the cheese brown a bit.] Yummy.

I'm also very intrigued by your roasted sprouts recipe. First one I've ever seen that turns them sweet without the help of sugar. Will try that one soon :rolleyes:.

"My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne." John Maynard Keynes

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A friend calls them "little green balls of death."

I definitely will have to try roasting them. Thanks, Soba.

My favorite method up to this point is to boil them in salted water until they're almost done, then sauté in butter or bacon fat until browned, adding dill weed at the very end.

I first had the de-leafed version several years ago at Spiaggia, as an accompaniment for a piece of sea bass resting in a bit of seafood broth.

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Here's a simple and tasty way -- slice each one in half and cook em in butter cut-side down on medium to medium low heat just until the cut surface starts to brown, for about ten minutes (If I remember correctly). Season with S&P. The sprouts get steamed to al dente from the inside out. I'm sure olive oil would work too.

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Here's a simple and tasty way -- slice each one in half and cook em in butter cut-side down on medium to medium low heat just until the cut surface starts to brown, for about ten minutes (If I remember correctly). Season with S&P. The sprouts get steamed to al dente from the inside out. I'm sure olive oil would work too.

Sara Moulton on FoodTV has a similar recipe on her "Cooking Live" show. The halved brussel sprouts are steamed in a covered skillet and when the water is mostly gone, dijon mustard is added along with S & P.

She also did a shredded brussel sprouts recipe which I haven't tried but it sounded interesting.

And once she had on a "slow cooking" guest and I believe they made slow cooked (as in "all day") brussel sprouts swimming in butter. They looked dark brown and decadant.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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My preference is for the slow cooked methods where they develop a sweetness. I do something like the "slow cooked" in butter method, just not all day!

Now I am thinking that cutting them in half and putting them cut side down in a gratin pan and addidng cream might be an approach. Sort of like a Brussels Sprouts Dauphinoise. :biggrin: But then, I am still in love with my gratin pan. :laugh:

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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Soba -how long does it take to deleaf a package of brussel sprouts?

Edited for PS

Your recipe, BTW, sounds fantastic.

I try to do this recipe with 2 tubs of sprouts. 2 tubs might seem like overkill, but consider that the volume of sprouts shrinks by half when you cook them.

De-leafing two tubs takes about fifteen minutes -- I try to be as efficient as possible. When you de-leaf them, a helpful tip is to slice off the base. Leave the cores aside--when all of the sprouts have been de-leafed, chop the cores finely. Saves time and is more efficient. Or you can use a food processor if you really want to.

Curlywurlyfi and others, you might try stir-frying the sprouts with thinly sliced chilies, minced scallions and/or thinly julienned ginger. A nice combination is ginger, black mustard seeds, and a few serranos or jalapenos.

Soba

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Soba, thanks. :biggrin: I've just saved your brussels sprouts to my "recipes that must be tried" folder. I'm thinking it's going to take ME more than 15 minutes to de-leaf 2 tubs, however. :laugh:

Edited, because I think faster than I type :wink:

Edited by NolaFoodie (log)
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I'm constantly looking for a no carb, no sugar snack that is neither carrot nor celery. Recently I've fancied brussel sprouts as my snack of choice. A couple of bites each, good sharp flavor to zap my taste buds and fairly filling. I just steam them and toss with butter and plenty of black pepper. Or I get them from Whole Foods prepared food sectin. They marinate them in balsamic vinegar, canola oil and sliced onion.

Holly Moore

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A new trick I've done is to shave each sprout with a mandoline, cook with some duck fat, salt, pepper, and chopped apples.  Combine with a little red cabbage, apple cider vinegar.  Serve as a side dish with pork chops or roast chicken.

This really sounds excellent.

Although I must admit,after 25 years in a kitchen i've never used Brussel sprouts on a Mandoline.I guess i'll have to dig out my guard.

I can see this dish also with some bacon/pancetta lardoons and stuffed into some pheasants,or used as a base for venision with a lindonberry sauce :)

Turnip Greens are Better than Nothing. Ask the people who have tried both.

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Sprouts for dinner,

Sprouts for tea.

Sprouts for you,

and sprouts for me.

Sprouts at Christmas,

Sprouts at Fall.

Whether large,

or whether small,

Sprouts enough to fill us all.

-- Sara Midda, In and Out of the Garden

Brussels sprouts have always been my favorite vegetable. I had a strange affinity for them even before I had ever tasted them. It was love at first sight, from a photo of a brussels-sprout salad in a cookbook. I was five when I saw this picture, and I started to obsess about brussels sprouts. Translucently green and glistening, they looked as if they would be incomparably delicious. Never having eaten a brussels sprout, I pleaded with my mother to buy some for dinner. One day, after much begging by me, she did serve brussles sprouts to humor me, but it turned out to be some awful creamed stuff in a box from the freezer section. It was terrible: bland and gray-green and mushy.

I never had a brussels sprout again until I was 22 years old, studying in England, and cooking for myself in the shared kitchen of a graduate dorm. The English have gorgeous sprouts, and they looked so tempting at the market. That's when I found the joy of sprouts cut in half and pan-fried cut-side-down in butter and garlic. Sometimes I made a whole meal of a large heaping bowl of sprouts.

Now brussels sprouts are a must at my Thanksgiving table. My family likes them, though no one can possibly like them as much as I.

I have an acquaintance who tells me that she makes "the most delicious puréed brussels sprouts, that dinner guests rave about." I am sorry, but that is simply sprout-abuse. Why does she not just purée a head of cabbage instead of destroying those precious little green gems? I think she cannot be a true lover of brussels sprouts.

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I've found high heat roasting, drizzled with grapeseed oil and just touched with some kosher salt, very satisfiying.

By far the best I ever cooked where fresh sprouts just picked from my garden, after a hard frost had hit them the night before, and then roasted.

Nirvana.

woodburner

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One thing I do that hasn't been mentioned is a frittata.

Slow cook the sprouts in the oven for about forty five minutes. Remove, add minced garlic to the pan, jiggle everything around and tirn into a skillet. Then add loosely whisked eggs, pan on medium, then under the salamander. Slide out, slice. With a few shavings of pecorino and some whole fresh oregano leaves (which look like sprout leaves).

With crostini, a soup, a salad, and perhaps rabbit or fish.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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One thing I do that hasn't been mentioned is a frittata.

Slow cook the sprouts in the oven for about forty five minutes. Remove, add minced garlic to the pan, jiggle everything around and tirn into a skillet. Then add loosely whisked eggs, pan on medium, then under the salamander. Slide out, slice. With a few shavings of pecorino and some whole fresh oregano leaves (which look like sprout leaves).

With crostini, a soup, a salad, and perhaps rabbit or fish.

Wow, this sounds good.

Jinmyo, do you leave them whole when roasting or are they cut up? I'm just trying to imagine the frittata with the whole brussel sprouts bulging forth...

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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Well I've got some sprouts and root vegetables roasting in the oven atm -- sprouts, carrots, onions, some garlic cloves, turnips, potatoes, parsnips and squash, EVOO, kosher salt, rosemary.

When they're done, they'll get tossed with a lemon-balsamic viniagrette. (Balsamic vinegar, EVOO, lemon zest, lemon oil, salt and cracked black pepper)

Soba

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One thing I do that hasn't been mentioned is a frittata.

Slow cook the sprouts in the oven for about forty five minutes. Remove, add minced garlic to the pan, jiggle everything around and tirn into a skillet. Then add loosely whisked eggs, pan on medium, then under the salamander. Slide out, slice. With a few shavings of pecorino and some whole fresh oregano leaves (which look like sprout leaves).

With crostini, a soup, a salad, and perhaps rabbit or fish.

Wow, this sounds good.

Jinmyo, do you leave them whole when roasting or are they cut up? I'm just trying to imagine the frittata with the whole brussel sprouts bulging forth...

Oh, I'm sorry. I split them and then split the core. I also like to let them marinate in EVOO a while before roasting.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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Well I've got some sprouts and root vegetables roasting in the oven atm -- sprouts, carrots, onions, some garlic cloves, turnips, potatoes, parsnips and squash, EVOO, kosher salt, rosemary.

When they're done, they'll get tossed with a lemon-balsamic viniagrette.  (Balsamic vinegar, EVOO, lemon zest, lemon oil, salt and cracked black pepper)

Soba

That sounds wonderful, Soba. Any protein with that?

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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oh yes! heh.

and you'll be proud of me too (for once. :wink: )

Late dinner for me and my roommate:

Cornish game hens, rubbed with garlic butter and sage. (Yes, I left the skin on this time.)

Roasted root vegetables, lemon-balsamic viniagrette.

Tomato confit.

Orzo.

Evian for me, Ovaltine for him. :shock: (one of his quirks...)

dunno what to do about dessert though....

Soba

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Soba, it is difficult to think of a time I haven't been proud of you.

I hope the hens are womderful.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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