brussel sprouts “recipe”
my friend lauren asked me to tell her my recipe for these brussel sprouts i made during thanksgiving. i don’t usually do recipes because i can’t follow them but here is my recollection and commentary of what happened that day.- cut the brussel sprouts in half… or not. fancy people cut out the bottom and unwrap the outer most leaves. *shrug*. they do that cause those are the most bitter parts (i think). but with enough butter, salt, and pepper, it doesnt matter.
- melt some (read: a lot of) butter into a pan
- if you’re going to put some herbs in there, put them in with the butter. that’ll release the aromas (ex: chopped garlic, sage, thyme, rosemary).
- put in the brussel sprouts when the butter starts to bubble. if the butter turns dark brown/black, then its too late :). if you’re doing the red onion ones, then put those in now too. make sure the onions are touching the pan.
- salt and pepper them
- roll them around for a bit, depending on how you want the outside to be. if you have red onions in there, then wait for them to start caramelizing
- depending on how dry it is, you may want to add some moisture because this is the part where you cover the pan and reduce to medium heat.* the point of this part is to actually cook the things internally with some steam and the trapped heat. so just make sure the pan is not dry, but dont drown them either, cause that’ll be gross.
- cook until they’re done minus 3 mins.
- uncover and return to fairly high heat. hopefully there will be no excess liquids. this is the part where people say “season to taste”. i guess try one and then toss in whatever else you want. this is when i put in the parmesan cheese. **
* this is why they’re not mushy. boiling things usually suck unless you’re trying to eat healthily.
** a note about putting in parmesan cheese. if you cook it for too long, the cheese _will_ melt and clump together. then its hard to have them stay with the brussel sprouts. i would just put a little bit of it on at the end when its under high heat again right before you take it out. once they’re out i’d sprinkle it on so it coats it.
