Here, There, & Everywhere: Brussels Sprouts
Over at Serious Eats, they’ve declared Brussels sprouts the “ingredient of the year.” We’ll go one past that and call them the FOOD of the year! We could eat them right now with just about anything.
Of course, this is seasonally driven, and the sweet, tightly furled little cabbages will be gone as soon as spring gets close. So maybe food of the year is a bit of a stretch. There will be something else in the spring, and something else yet again in the summer.
But for now, we’re eating Brussels sprouts three times a week! Their sweet, mildly cabbage-y flavor and tender innards are what we crave. It doesn’t hurt, though, that we keep finding terribly decadent recipes for them. We’ve made Orangette’s adaptation of cream-braised Brussels sprouts at least three times now and even added bacon. (It’s not indulgent if they’re a vegetable…right?) Here’s the recipe for that particular form of deliciousness:
• Cream-Braised Brussels Sprouts at Orangette. A little soft, a little sweet, a little tart, and lots of caramelized and browned cream sauce.
We also have been tearing apart the Brussels sprouts and cooking their leaves for quicker warm salads. (Brussels sprouts leaves with pancetta and balsamic vinegar! Yum.) And then this week we hashed them up and tossed them with hazelnuts, lemon, and olive oil for a quick hot slaw. (Look for a recipe for that one tomorrow.)
Are you Brussels sprouts-mad like us this time of year? We can’t get enough of them. What do you like to eat them with?
Related: Five Ways to Eat: Brussels Sprouts
(Images: Flickr member mkosut licensed for use under Creative Commons; Faith Durand)