Thursday, February 17, 2011

Sprout it out

It seems the foodie world is evenly divided in to two camps: those who dig on brussel sprouts and those that think they taste like feet. I'm a proud upstanding member of the first group and I think I've found my favorite preparation. It helps that it's also the simplest. The key factor is not an ingredient, it's a hulking piece of equipment that I lug out from under my cabinet probably twice a month:

The magic machine that lives in my cabinet and consists of eleventy bajillion parts. He's complex. Let's call him Jeeves.
Jeeves makes quick work of shredding the sprouts - the key component to cooking them quickly and thus preventing too much of a sulfuric taste. There's lots more you can do with this recipe.  Bacon, garlic, pine nuts. But I like the simplicity of just butter, salt and pepper.

(Wow, this recipe is almost as complicated as Paula Dean's English Peas. Sorry. )



Shredded Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients:
  • 1 lbs fresh brussel sprouts. Ends trimmed and yucky outer leaves removed.
  • 1 tsp butter
  • salt and pepper
Directions:

  1. Shred the brussel sprouts in a food processor fitted with the slicing blade.
  2. Melt  butter in large pan over medium high heat. Add sprouts and season liberally with salt and pepper. They'll caramelize a little when they hit the pan, then just stir and cook until completely wilted. The end!

3 comments:

Rob Monroe said...

We moved from the second team to the first last year. I just remember boiled sprouts and how awful those were. Guess two generations ago (those who raised me) had not yet discovered "cutting" or "pan frying" or anything to help flavor things.

We will try this recipe, and soon! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to try this! I have read that sprouts are the very best vegetable for you - seriously! So I TRY to get the fam to eat them. The best recipe I've found so far is roasting them (cut sprouts in half, toss w/salt, pepper, & evoo. Roast cut side down @ like 425 until caramelized? Hardest part is catching them b4 they burn. Anyways they actually turn sweet - usually!).
Thx for sharing! My CSA offers fab sprouts - yay new recipe to try! :)

UDCMRK said...

Curried Brussel Sprouts

Here's my favorite, from the fabulous Vij's Restaurant in Vancouver. http://www.vijs.ca/

1.5 lbs of Brussels sprouts
12 oz bacon
1/2 cup canola oil
1.5 TB cumin seeds (whole)
3 cups pureed tomatoes
1 TB salt
1 ts turmeric
1 TB ground cumin
1 TB ground coriander
.5 ts cayenne pepper (or to taste)
4 cups water
6 oz paneer (Indian cheese) in 2 in cubes

Wash sprouts and cut into quarters.

Fry bacon til just starting to crisp; cool and drain. Cut into 1 in pieces.

Heat oil in shall pan, add cumin seeds and sizzle; add tomatoes and other spices (you can add your other favorite Indian spices to flavor as you like).

Stir while cooking for 5-8 minutes.

Add sprouts and water, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer til sprouts are soft but not mushy (5-8 minutes).

Serve over paneer and sprinkle with bacon.

Alternate servings: stir in paneer right before serving. Also, skip the paneer and add chic peas to the curry.

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