Having never tried Brussels sprouts until recently, I had always assumed that they were GROSS- think of all those TV shows, movies, cartoons, etc. where the mother is forcing the kids to eat their Brussels sprouts... I wouldn't exactly call that a shining endorsement! But a while back, SFS made me some Brussels sprouts (in yet another attempt to show me what I've been missing food-wise), and I was hooked. And that's not an understatement- I can't stop myself from eating them when they're still cooking in the pan! For example, if there are any Brussels sprouts left by the time the ENTIRE dinner is made, it's usually a miracle!
Yesterday, on my way home around 9 pm, I had a HANKERIN' for Brussels sprouts. So, I grabbed some at the grocery, and got to town. Here are some pics and my VERY fancy cooking directions. Please note, this is TOTALLY SFS's technique- I swear I had to watch him do this 10 times before I tried it on my own- not that it's complex, I just couldn't imagine that they'd taste so good with so little work! But back to my story:
First, I cleaned the sprouts. I put them in a colander and ran water over them for a bit. Then, I chopped off the bottom of the stems and sliced the sprouts in half. When I do this, the over leaves come off and I throw those away- I'm not sure if that's good or not, it's just how I roll!
Then I put them in a pan with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. I also laid the sprouts so they were lying on the side I cut.
Aren't they cute? It's like those "Cabbage Patch" dolls... except on my stove... yikes!
And when they start to brown, you flip 'em over!
When the other side has a good color on it, you can put 'em on the plate and DEVOUR them! (I've cropped the photos so you can't count and tell that there were more sprouts in the pan than made it to my plate!)
What an AWESOME dinner. I hate to admit that since I'm still sick, I couldn't exactly TASTE the sprouts, but I know they were AWESOME! As for today, it snowed for a moment here in NYC, but nothing stuck. I'm in the midst of Holy Week- tonight it's the Tenebrae Service, which should be fun as usual... Happy Wednesday!
