Best Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients:
- 1 to 2 lb Brussels Sprouts
- salt
- water
- Good Quality Olive Oil
- Pepper
- Fresh Thyme
- Lemon Juice
- Digital Scale
Background:
According to CookingLight.com, “Look for small, firm sprouts with compact, bright-green heads―the smaller the head, the sweeter the taste. Avoid soft, wilted, puffy, or dull-colored heads, as well as those with loose or yellowish leaves. Try to choose sprouts of similar size so they’ll cook evenly”.
Sprouts pair well with beef, pork, or turkey. I like them so much I think they can even be a standalone dish, but I might be alone on that.
Preparation:
Total Prep Time: 2 hours
Active Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes
Rinse Brussels sprouts in cold water, and drain. Halve sprouts lengthwise, and remove knobbly bit at end. Try to remove as few leaves as possible while doing this (it helps to halve them first). Place in large bowl. Place bowl on scale. Add enough cold water to cover the sprouts if they are weighed down with plate. Remove sprouts from bowl. Add 8% of the weight of the water in salt, and stir until combined. Return sprouts to bowl, and weigh them down with the plate. Let sit for 1 hour. Drain sprouts and let sit for at least 1 hour (this allows the salt to diffuse more evenly through the sprouts, and also lets them dry out).
Cooking:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees, and place a rimmed baking sheet (cannot be non-stick) on bottom rack. Ensure sprouts are fully drained, and toss with a small amount of refined oil (you don’t need much at all). When oven has reached 500 degrees, remove baking sheet and pour sprouts onto sheet. Flip any sprouts that are not flat side down. Return baking sheet to oven, and cook for about 5-7 minutes. The flat sides will brown nicely. Remove when the sprouts are just slightly less cooked than you like and transfer the sprouts to a bowl (they will continue to cook in the bowl). Season to taste with olive oil, lemon juice, thyme, pepper and, if necessary, salt. Serve immediately.
Notes:
You can season the sprouts however you like. Sometimes I use nutmeg instead of thyme.
Also, you can skip the brining if you want. If you don’t brine, the sprouts will have a slightly stronger cabbage flavour, be slightly chewier, and not quite as tasty. They will still be pretty good, though.