Normally I’m rushed on Tuesday. I am a cohost on a podcast that starts recording at 8pm so it’s a bit rushed to get home, cook dinner, eat dinner, edit show notes before the show starts. Luckily this week my co-host is out of town.. so no show. So.. last night I cooked.
I’m starting to come around on Brussels Sprouts. Of the ways I’ve tried so far, last night’s were definitely the best.. and -then- I added the “pesto”.
Sprouts:
1 1/2 pounds brussels sprouts
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 400F degrees.
While the oven is preheating, cut off the knobby end of the sprout if it’s grody. Cut the sprouts in half and toss them in a bowl. To the cut sprouts add olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper. I used “light” olive oil since I was going to be cooking this. ***
After oven reaches temperature, spread sprouts on a jelly roll pan and bake for 25 minutes.
The sprouts came out splendidly. I will definitely roast them this way again. They’d be good plain.. or you could do addins (bacon/onion, pesto, cranberry pesto (as below) etc). Super nummy.
Cranberry Pesto:
Be sure to go over to the steamy kitchen site for the full “pesto” recipe.
First off, I didn’t have any pistachios and the store didn’t have any pre-shelled. So I spent about 10-15 minutes just prying the nuts out of their shell. This recipe would have been way easier if I’d found pre-shelled nuts.
Second off, I didn’t randomly have “roasted garlic” just lying around my kitchen.. and I wasn’t interested in spending 20 mintues making roasted garlic… so I used some pre-diced from a jar of stuff I had in the fridge. Also, since I know both F and I like garlic I probably put in more garlic than the recipe strictly called for.
Third off, I used some nice nice extra virgin olive oil***. The first two tablespoons went in just fine.. but the rest of it didn’t really mix as well with the pesto as I would have liked. In fact.. I think when I make this again I’ll half the olive oil in the mix and call it a .. um.. paste.. or chutney. I’m not really sure what you have to do to qualify as a “pesto” but really I ended up with nut and cranberry bits in a olive oil soup. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very very tasty.. I just think it could have been just as tasty (and less soupy) with less olive oil.
Anyway I finished up the “pesto” just as the Brussels Sprouts were coming out of the oven. I let the sprouts cool (and the pesto.. um.. rest) while I quickly sautéed the Pork Chops. Salt, pepper and a quick sauté in a bit of light olive oil. I had planned to dredge the chops in flour before frying them.. but it turns out our flour had bugs (/sigh). Regardless I had a pretty good idea that the “pesto” was going to have a nice strong flavor and I wanted that to be what we tasted so I didn’t spice up the chops.
I served it up, it looked yummy.. When he was done eating it F said he liked it and we could eat that again in the future. He also ate -all- of his sprouts :D.
Today I’m having leftover sprouts for lunch with a bit of leftover chicken from earlier this week.. the pesto goes very nicely with both and is equally tasty on chicking or pork chops. Nom nom nom.
*** Speaking of Olive Oil. I read this article and -finally- understand the difference between Premium Extra Virgin, extra virgin, virgin, pure, light, lite and flavored olive oil. TLC Cooking “Types of Olive Oil”
