Brussels Sprouts - love them or hate them? Try them like this!!

Ah Brussels Sprouts!!!  I am thinking YUM, and you are probably thinking….. YUK!!  I would say 8 out of 10 people think they hate these petit chou’s (sorry Tory…) but that is probably because they haven’t had them prepared right!  Sprouts are incredibly good for you – they are LOADED with vitamin C, and a bunch of other good stuff.  Here are a couple of ways to prepare them that are my favorite – and I would be willing to bet they will become yours as well!  One word of advice – use FRESH sprouts.  Frozen are sort of ok for these recipes, but they tend to be too soggy, and just don’t have the same flavor.

OK, here goes:

Sautéed Brussels sprouts, with shallot, garlic, baby portabella mushrooms and cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients:

One package fresh Brussels sprouts

1 small shallot, diced fine

3 cloves garlic, diced fine (almost minced)

1tbs olive oil

1 tbs butter

10 cherry tomatoes, quartered

2/3 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms ( a good handful anyway – pre sliced are fine, just chop up a bit more)



Quartered sprouts



Cut the bottoms off the sprouts, cut in half, from top to bottom, peel outside couple of leaves away and discard.  Cut in half again, (again from top to bottom) so you have wedges.  Keep any leaves that fall off at this point. 



Just warm the tomatoes - don't let
them get soggy!



Heat  olive oil, and 1 tbs of butter over med high heat in sauté pan,  add garlic and shallots.  Sautee till translucent – about 2 minutes.  Add sprouts, stirring often.  Stir in mushrooms and remaining tbs of butter when sprouts are turning bright green – about 4 or 5 minutes. Sauté until mushrooms are tender, about 3 minutes.  Add tomatoes, cook until heated through, but not soggy – about 2 minutes or so.  Serve.


 



Finished product!  Steak looks more rare than
it was in this photo - but I do like it rare!



I served these with a London broil that I marinated for a couple of hours in Guinness beer, Worcestershire, salt pepper and garlic. 

A quick tip when marinating a London broil – score the steak on both sides with a knife in an x pattern ( not deep, just break the surface)  helps the marinade work in faster. 

Ok, version two:

Shredded Brussels sprouts with shallot, garlic and gorgonzola.

OK, I know, a double whammy – sprouts AND blue cheese….. keep an open mind here!

Ingredients:

One package fresh Brussels sprouts

1 small shallot, diced fine

3 cloves garlic, diced fine (almost minced)

1tbs olive oil

1 tbs butter

½ cup or so of crumbled Gorgonzola or Blue cheese

Cut the bottoms off the sprouts, then cut in half from top to bottom.  Remove outer leaves.  With a paring knife, cut the core of the sprout out in a triangle shape ( it is simpler than it seems – just cut out the solid part in the center of each half) 



Cut solid center out in a triangle





Peel sprout quarters

Cut the sprouts in half again, so you end up with wedges.  Peel the leaves off down as close to the core as you can, and save in a bowl. ( It’s ok to keep the little part that won’t peel – not the triangles from the center, but the part around that.)



Add cheese at end, don't let it all melt



In a med sauté pan, heat olive oil and butter.  Add shallots and garlic, sauté till translucent.  If you’ve been trying my recipes, this should be a pretty familiar step – I use these two ingredients in about 90 percent of what I cook…  Add sprout leaves  -  sauté until bright green, stirring often – probably about 3 or 4 minutes.  Add the cheese, stirring constantly till partially melted – about a minute.   Serve.  

 

I served this with a petit sirloin, and some garlic smashed potatoes.   You can add crumbled bacon to this recipe to take it a step further.  I cook about 3 or 4 strips of bacon in the sauté pan, remove the bacon, and cook the sprouts in the bacon grease instead of oil and butter.  OK, it’s a heart attack on a plate, but boy, what a way to go!

Well, enjoy the sprouts – let me know what you think!

Bon Appetite!

Finished product!  Yum!