Something must've been in the air yesterday... because I cooked dinner, too! Well, I should say that I cooked SOMETHING to eat after my church rehearsal, which I called dinner, but is probably best described as a side dish... but WHATEVER you call it, it was DELISH!
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!
All the delicious things you can make with them! One of my favorite side dishes during the fall is this simple roasted squash. Not only is it delicious when made fresh, but it freezes beautifully and can be added to so many kinds of meals. My family has made squash this way for as long as I can remember, and I absolutely love it! So the other weekend I decided to whip up a batch... here's how I did it:
I started with a butternut squash (it was just over 4 pounds).
Using my biggest knife, I cut it into 6 pieces and scooped out the gunk and seeds.
Using tin foil...
I wrapped the pieces of squash until they were totally covered.
After I'd prepared the entire squash, I popped it into the oven at 350 degrees.
After a while in the oven, the squash was soft when I inserted a sharp knife which meant it was finished!
So I unfolded the tin foil...
And started scooping the cooked squash from the peel.
Once I'd scraped the skin clean on all 6 pieces...
I added some butter, salt and pepper to the squash...
And used my mixer to beat it to the perfect consistency!
Topped with a little extra pepper, this is one of the best ways to enjoy this scrumptious squash!
And while it's great on it's own, it also makes a delicious side dish!
One of my favorite weeknight meals is a plate of brussels sprouts, hallal chicken from my local grocer, and a bowl of squash... YUM!
Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!
