Please read the concept behind Notes From The Kitchen HERE

 

People are scared of brussel sprouts, they make judgment before they ever try them, but they are delicious if cooked correctly. The trick is not to cook them whole.  You can cut them in half or shred the leaves, but cooking them whole leaves them undercooked in the middle and overcooked on the outside.  There are several ways to solve this problem and Tom has a great recipe in his book that fixes it.

 

He actually suggests you blanch (to blanch is to boil then drop in an ice bath to stop the cooking) the sprouts whole and once cool, peal the leaves off then saute the leaves with diced bacon. Very original and let me say really great.

 

It is as simple al it gets too.  Throw some diced bacon in a hot pan and let it cook till almost crispy but not.  Then throw in the leaves and give it a quick 2-3 min saute.  You want the leaves to have just a little brown color but not too much. Once cooked sprinkle in some grey salt if you have it and some pepper and toss again.

He then recommends an apple cider sauce which was spot on. Throw chopped shallots in a pot with butter over medium heat until cooked through and starting to turn brown. Then deglaze with ½ cup apple cider and ½ cup apple cider vinegar and let boil/reduce for 3-5 minutes. Once the cider mix is reduced wisk in three or four pats of butter, add salt and pepper and you are done.  You really want to let the sauce cool a little to get that “sauce” consistency once there drizzle over the sautéed brussel sprouts and you are set with a damn good vegetable side dish.

 

I served it with pan fried quail but it would go great with chicken or pork or even a hearty fish.

 

-- Robert