Roasted Brussels Sprouts - By Z
Brussels sprouts are not small cabbages and should not be treated as such. I think that a lot of people’s problems with brussels sprouts stem from the fact that they’ve typically had them boiled or steamed or, what’s worse, overcooked. When they’re overcooked, they release a sulfur compound that makes them particularly unappetizing.
So, instead of simply boiling them or steaming them, it’s much better to caramelize them somehow. I made half of the brussels sprout stalk seen in an earlier post by making a caramel sauce (with balsamic vinegar and homemade caramel) and then frying the brussels sprouts in it.
I took care of the other half of the stalk by roasting them.
The first step is to remove all of the outer leaves until you have a little hard ball that looks like, well, a small cabbage. These can keep for a week or so in a tupperware, so feel free to clean first and cook later. Now, hit them up with some flavor. You can confine it to olive oil, salt, and pepper, but in this case, I added some additional spices and flavors:
These have olive oil, salt, pepper, cayenne, and pure maple syrup on them
Roast them for half an hour and you’ll have little caramelized treats.
Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Caramelized vegetables.
- Brussels Sprouts – I used enough to cover a cookie sheet without any of them touching
- Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper
- Other spices – cayenne, cumin, white pepper, Old Bay… I actually haven’t tried Old Bay, but it sounds like it might be good
- Other sweet spices – if you’d like (and I DO like) you can add some caramelization help with some sugar (brown or white) or maple syrup (please, only use pure)
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Clean your brussels sprouts. Remove all yellow and/or loose leaves. Wash them off and rinse thoroughly (salad spinners are perfect for this).
Put the cleaned brussels sprouts in some sort of container. For marinading purposes, I love using gallon plastic bags (some places market these as “freezer bags”). Put your brussels sprouts in the bag (or bowl if you don’t have the plastic bags) and add your olive oil first. Make sure the sprouts are well coated, then add all of your spices. Make sure the spice distribution is even. Let them marinate for at least a half hour, but I wouldn’t go longer than 2 hours.
Lay them out on a cookie sheet so that none of the sprouts are touching. Roast for about 30 minutes, shaking every 5-10 minutes for even caramelization. They’re ready when they taste delicious (I start tasting at about the 20 minute point).
Even if you have bad memories of brussels sprouts, try these out. You might be surprised.
One Comment
I like the way you put the actual recipe in a separate box. How do you do that?
As for the recipe that you asked for, we’ll have to make them together the next time we are in the same city!
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