After eating out rather too much last week, I've been forcing myself to find time to cook the past few days. Today was something fun that I found at Whole Foods: brussels sprouts still on the stalk. It's so kooky looking, a big long stalk with little knobs sprouting off the sides. I had only seen photos before. The whole stalk was more expensive than just buying a bag of brussels sprouts, but it was a fun novelty, plus I was able to pick out a stalk with mostly small sprouts. I so want to grow these next year!
Georg doesn't care for brussels sprouts but I found a recipe that made them palatable to him too: roasted them with chopped bacon, minced garlic and olive oil, then poured a bit of white wine into the roasting pan to scrape up the brown bits and glaze the brussels sprouts. It was great, if I do say so myself. I thought the sprouts on the stalk might be sweeter and milder in flavor, since they were basically alive until ten minutes before they went into the oven. But if anything the flavor was a little stronger. I'm not complaining though; I love brussels sprouts.
ohmigod, get all that meat off of those brussel's sprouts. they are so good!
I love brussels sprouts too! Next time I'm going to try roasting them with pecans and shallots. Whole Foods does that sometimes and it tastes really good, but they undercook them. Brussels sprouts should not be so firm that when you bite into one you cut the inside of your mouth (true story!).
but that sounds so good. who needs the gross meat anyway?
i have never cooked brussel's sprouts myself, and i am afraid that i would make them into a horrible cutting instrument. what is the trick?
I would point out that bacon makes everything taste better, but I realize that you don't feel the same :)
This is the recipe I used: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/104566
If you omit the bacon, I would add more olive oil and something else to provide flavor, maybe thyme. If you search "brussels sprouts" on that site there are a bunch of recipes, most of which don't contain meat.
This Christmas my sister and brother-in-law presented our father with a beautifully wrapped gift. They had left it outside, and when gift opening time arrived, they brought it in with a huge smile on their faces. "We bet you'll NEVER guess what's in here!" they exclaimed. Dad opened the box and pulled out an entire stalk of brussel sprouts (from Whole Foods) with little red bows tied around many of them! We all laughed, but Dad was the most happy because they were ALL his! As children, me and my 3 siblings would argue that one of us had received more brussel sprouts on their plate than we had - Mom had to make sure she distributed them evenly. It's a strange family tradition, but one we cherish, and we are sure this sets us apart from most families! It's now January and we are in search of another stalk for my father. He doesn't get out much because of his health and he enjoyed the stalk from my sister so much! If anyone knows where we can order this, please email me. We're imagining that maybe there is someone out there who can ship them FedEx (similar to Hawaiian flowers, which he's received many times from our brother). He'd get such a kick out of it! If you can be of any assistance, please email me.
Hi Renee, that is such a cool story. I don't know of anyplace to buy brussel sprouts by mailorder, but if I hear of a source I will definitely let you know.