~ Sauté ~: April 2010

I am a huge vegetable lover! I crave vegetables. Never chocolate. Vegetables. A kitchen counter with tons of fresh veggies on display is one of my favorite sights to see!

Steaming, roasting, sautéing.

I have to say, that roasting is probably the easiest, and tastiest way to get your veggies. Whatever I have lying around will work. Maybe some onion, any type of leftover peppers, mushrooms, maybe a potato or that tomato that needs to either be used or tossed. I throw it all together in a glass bowl, a little extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and a bit of paprika, stir, and roast. Easy and delicious.

BUT, my absolute favorite vegetable to roast is -- Brussels Sprouts.

Since they are of the cabbage family, then tend to be a bit bitter if served undercooked and their odor is probably the main reason many people dislike them, however the roasting process brings out a very sweet and surprisingly mild and delicious flavor. Brussels sprouts are a cultivar of the same species that includes cabbage, collard greens, broccoli, kale, and kohlrabi: they are cruciferous, which means they contain good amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid and dietary fiber which is of course essential to every diet. They are also believed to protect against some forms of cancer.

A stalk of Brussels sprouts

Here is what I do:
I use about a pound of Brussels sprouts. I cut off the bottom stem portion, and half each of them. I will quarter them if they are on the bigger side. I toss them in a large glass bowl with about 3 tbsps of extra virgin olive oil (or Wegmans Basting Oil, which is basically EVOO with garlic and herbs) salt and pepper. If I have some extra garlic on hand, or an onion, or even a pear, I will cut that up as well and toss them in the dish. It depends on what I have in the kitchen.

After tossing all the ingredients together, I place the sprouts in my favorite blue Le Creuset casserole dish that you can see in the background. http://www.dillards.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=301&storeId=301&langId=-1&productId=502101271&linkshare=http://shopping.yahoo.com/affiliate

** I bought this dish and another larger oval cassarole dish at either Ross or Marshall's (both carry the brand at times) for about $14.99. I absolutely love cooking with these dishes and it has been fun collecting these expensive items -- that I find for next to nothing. IF you can find them...

I place the dish into a pre-heated oven at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes. I like them roasted in a well done fashion which makes them crispy with blackened leaves. Every 10 minutes or so, I give the casserole dish a shake to make sure they brown evenly. When the sprouts look like the pictures below, (after about a half an hour) I take them out and drizzle a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar over them, and give it a final mix and bake for an additional 10 minutes or so. This really helps to bring out a lot of the sweetness in the Brussels sprouts. This was a smaller batch, but if you make more than you can enjoy at the time, they make for a mouthwatering snack the next day. Even when eaten right out of the fridge!