Those of you who grew up being told, “No leaving the dinner table until you finish your Brussels sprouts,” will have to explain to me: What was so bad about them? The taste? Texture? The way they were prepared?
Of all the vegetables in the world, how did the Brussels sprout become synonymous with nastiness?
I don’t remember eating a Brussels sprout until as an adult — the most memorable were the pan-roasted sprouts at the South Gate restaurant in Manhattan, where my crew and I popped them like candy. I literally couldn’t stop picking at them. They were remarkable.
Sort of forgot about Brussels sprouts, until I spied a bag in Trader Joe’s the other day.
Let’s make some sprouts!
This is Mark Bittman’s recipe, and it’s for roasted Brussels sprouts with garlic. Not much to it — take the sprouts, trim off the bottoms and split them in half lengthwise.
Heat up a pan with several tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat, and lay the sprouts cut-side down. Toss in about 5-6 garlic cloves, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
When the sprouts are golden brown on the bottom, transfer the pan to a 450 degree oven (450 sounded a little high — I went with 425), and cook for about 30 minutes, until the sprouts are nicely browned all over.
Toss with a tbsp of balsamic vinegar, and if you’d like, grate on some fresh Parmesan. (I always do that — pushes a dish over the top.)
And there you’ve got roasted Brussels sprouts.
It would be impossible for anyone not to like Brussels sprouts prepared this way. In fact, I’m so confident, if you make this recipe and aren’t satisfied, email me and I’ll send you a full refund… wait, what am I saying, this isn’t an infomercial, and I’m not Ron Popeil.
But you get my point. These are delicious. Had parents only cooked them like this back in the day, no kid would have complained, and Brussels sprouts wouldn’t suffer from their current image problem.
Maybe I’ll try making these for my 3 and 5-year old nieces over Christmas. That’ll be an interesting test.
6 Comments
Couldn’t agree more. I have converted a bunch of brussel sprout-haters into lovers by serving them roasted sprouts. They’re so much better than boiled or steamed ones (yuck!). To push this recipe “over the top” for holidays, I add diced pancetta.
Doug, I just got the new Momofuku cookbook and there’s an amazing recipe for Brussels sprouts in there I’ve been dying to try since I had them a few years ago. Here’s a version of it from Epicurious….
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roasted-Brussels-Sprouts-240260
Shall we have a friendly cook off?
Pancetta on top of Brussels sprouts is a great idea! And Liz, that recipe looks fantastic. The Asian dressing is an interesting twist. You’ll have to tell me how it turns out. A cook off might be in order…
You know what is unique about brussel sprouts? You don’t necessarily need to fancy them up with a lot of spice.
They are after all, mini cabbages. I would be curious if those who are brussel sprout-aphobes also feel the same way about cabbage or its cousin, cauliflower?
All you need is to steam them, add some olive oil, some basil leaves or rosemary if you like, and butter to taste. Since they are nutty in flavor, let them speak for themselves, naturally!
BTW, I’m am biased, as I’ve loved brussel sprouts all of my life and have continued as a big fan throughout adult hood.
Doug,
Made something similar to this a long time ago, but with the traditional olive oil and garlic, added some Indian spices to it and baked the whole thing instead. Came out great.
Check out the balsamic braised brussels sprouts with pancetta at Smitten Kitchen:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/12/balsamic-braised-brussels-with-pancetta/#more-5236
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[...] a pretty good representation of what our sprouts look like when they’re done. He has a different recipe that sounds pretty darn good, so I think I’ll give it a try. I hope he isn’t mad at me [...]