Fun fact: there is an extra “s” in Brussels sprouts. Try saying it out loud. Makes you slow down a bit, doesn’t it? I never would have figured this out except for spell-check. You’ve been saying something your whole life, and then spell-check tells you that you’ve been saying it wrong this whole time. Dang it!
Back to the matter at hand. Brussels sprouts are making a come-back. It’s the vegetable that everybody loves to hate, and yet we’ve been seeing it on restaurant menus, cooking shows, friend’s houses, etc. No self-respecting kid ate their Brussels sprouts in my day. My mom would only make me eat TWO LEAVES of the stuff, and then she wouldn’t make me eat any more. Triumph!
But now Modern Science has uncovered ways for the average person to cook Brussels sprouts in such a way that you actually LIKE to eat them. Sauteeing with butter and pancetta is a favorite that we’ve seen frequently. You’re basically adding a bunch of butter and fat to make it taste good, right?
Today, however, we introduce you to Top Chef winner Paul Qui’s Brussels Sprouts. Now you may think it’s weird that we are linking to a People Magazine recipe, but that’s truly where it came from. I was sitting in the waiting room of a doctor’s office when I came across the recipe. I am only slightly ashamed to say that I ripped it out and took it home! We are also big fans of the show Top Chef, and it’s pretty cool to have the winner living in your home city. We’ve eaten at his restaurant! We are total celebrity chef snobs!
Today’s recipe uses some pretty standard ingredients: vinegar, sugar, chili pepper flake, garlic, lemon, basil, sprouts (of course), and a serrano chili. Piece of cake.
First you make the sauce: vinegar, sugar, garlic, black pepper, and pepper flake go into a sauce pan for just a few minutes until heated through. The sauce gives it nice tang, sweetness, and a little heat from the pepper. (Later in the week we tried to use leftover chili syrup to make a vinaigrette… just a little too sweet.)
Meanwhile, the sprouts are roasting in the oven for about 30 minutes with a little olive oil and salt.
A lemon is juiced and zested, which gets added at the very end. We also diced up the serrano chili (not pictured) and tore up some fresh basil. The serrano really kicks this dish up a notch. It would have made for a nicer picture if we had a red serrano, but the store only had green (pout).
And here you have it folks. It’s bitter. It’s sweet. It’s spicy (very spicy! I pretty much had a runny nose by the end). It’s delicious! Never again will you completely ignore the Brussels sprouts at the grocery store. Give it a try!
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