I always struggle with Brussels sprouts. I’ve tried all different ways of cooking them – roasting, pan searing, even braising them with bacon. None of them did it for me. They always had that “funky” taste and sometimes came out mushy. I’ve heard different theories on causes of the funky taste. Number one reason could be overcooking (admittedly, that blame lies with the cook). Another theory proposed that the tiny core of each sprout was to blame. One recommended solution was to pull off all the outer leaves, one by one, and discard the core. I actually tried it – and it did work – but boy was it a pain in the you-know-what. Then I tried a new approach: slicing the sprouts very thin. The resulting pieces cooked up very quickly, thus solving the overcooking, mushy problem (and it’s a lot faster than pulling off the leaves one at a time). And because you have to grip on to the stem of each sprout in order to slice it, you end up discarding the core. When all is said and done, you’re left with crisp, buttery Brussels sprouts without a lot of prep time in the kitchen.Click here to download and print a pdf of this recipe:
Sliced Brussels Sprouts with Brown Butter
11 comments:
That looks delicious.
Yum. I am partial to roasting, but this looks LOVELY.
I love Brussels sprouts pretty much any way except boiled to mush, so this is definitely on my "to-do" list!
thank you for this! you just ended my frantic search for a thanksgiving brussels sprouts recipe!
This looks like a great solution to the what, 8 stalks we got this year from AO? :)
Any particular mandoline you like?
I've added a "Top Tools" category to my Amazon store with the ceramic mandoline that I own: http://astore.amazon.com/24boxe-20
I don't think I'll ever go back to full-size brussels sprouts again! Sliced is the way to go...
~ Jen
I added some of those delicious sprouts (quartered and halved) to a potato-cabbage au gratin recipe from Deborah Madison. I'm also going to try this recipe. Were there too many Brussels sprouts this year? They're in my top 5 favorites. I know Diana likes them as well. They are probably the most cold hardy of what we grow. But maybe there should be less in '09. Soon, I plan to have Joanne send out a survey to all shareholders. Thanks for your site. Lora always told me to feature it more. I hope you have it going next season and we'll talk it up more in our newsletter. Thanks, Bob from AO
I used Ina Garten's roasted Brussels sprouts recipe to great effect.
Yeah, Bob, if you are reading, you guys should defintely talk up this site even more. I found it when you first posted last year and have added it to my Google Reader subscription, so I always know what she's up to, but anyone who doesn't know it and is a subscriber is totally missing out. Heck, anyone who wants to cook some seasonal veggies is missing out. ;) Now that your newsletters are electronic, you can just have a link to her site with each newsletter. I consider her part of the staff, actually! :) Her recipes are always great, and this site, in addition to the Angelic Organics cookbook. is where I turn for some inspiration. Oh, and thanks again J Noelle. :)
Oh and Bob, I didn't think there were too many Brussels sprouts, but I did have a lot of recipes I wanted to try this year. There was too much cabbage for my taste, but other than that, it was a GREAT year. J. Noelle, any suggestions for all that cabbage?
J. Noelle...do you know the restaurant Lula? I just had an amazing dish there this weekend...it was roasted sweet dumpling squash with pickled Brussels sprouts (they were quartered, or maybe even cut in eighths and very lightly pickled...I'd love to know how they did it). Then they served it on a bed of ancho chile sauce and black beans, topped with scrambled eggs and queso fresco. Yum.
Thank you for your kind words! I love Lula; it's a fantastic restaurant. The pickled brussels sprouts sound intriguing; I might do some sleuthing and see if I can find out how to make those.
As for the cabbage, I agree that there was a lot - mostly because the heads are so large and gorgeous. I usually default to reuben sandwiches with quick sauerkraut. I'd like to try my hand at real, fermented sauerkraut one of these days...
Your quick sauerkraut recipe is great. We actually tried the real fermented sauerkraut last year (my husband is from Germany and assured me he knew all about these things), but we put the fermenting jars on our back porch, and they froze and burst and we didn't realize it until much later, and it was a pretty smelly disaster. :) But I'd try it again, with a little more knowledge going into it this time... We just didn't get our act together to do it this season, although I still have three big heads staring at me, and maybe this is what we should do with them. Thanks again for all the good recipes.
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