An Affair to Remember: Brussel Sprouts

With some trepidation, this year, I decided to take up the gauntlet thrown down by the Dark Days Challenge to cook one meal per week that features SOLE (sustainable, organic, local and ethical) ingredients. And blog about it. And keep this up between November 27, 2011 until March 31, 2011. Did I mention I live on Vancouver Island? (Vancouver Island is not known for grain production, so helloooo potatoes.) Did I also mention I just moved house with Ck and changed jobs? 

Enough with the explanations and caveats. Among all the things I love about the late fall/early winter are brussel sprouts. It's a love that came to me recently. My memories of brussel sprouts as a child involve muddied green vegetables that verged on the bitter and profane. Little did I know then about the miracles of high heat, olive oil, and good local salt. After buying an enormous stalk of brussel sprouts grown at the local family-owned farm, Michell Farms, I considered the possibilities.

First I washed, trimmed the ends of these beauties, and cut them in half.  With the first batch, I simply tossed them with a good cold-pressed olive oil and locally made salt from Vancouver Island Salt Company. I popped them into a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven on a cookie sheet. You cook them for about eight minutes, flipping once. Don't crowd the sheet like I did. After I flipped them, I popped a little sliver of goat cheese I obtained from the Saltspring Island Cheese Company on each piece. These brussel sprouts are both delicious and an incredibly addictive finger food. I found serving them to people while they're drinking and watching you cook is an effective way to stave off the hangry [hang-ree]. Urban Dictionary defines 'hangry' as the state of being so hungry that one either becomes angry or frustrated or both.

With the second batch, I did something a little different. I tossed them with lovely local honey my good friend Matthew Tooley purveys at the Cottlestone Apiary, a bit of olive oil, and a smidgen of sesame seeds (yes, not from the island, but I'm going to cry 'Uncle!' and say it's the spice I needed). This is my most favourite way to cook and consume brussel sprouts. I hope you love them too. 

Honey-Sesame Roasted Brussel Sprouts

4 cups brussel sprouts, trimmed and halved
2 tablespoons of honey
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of walnut/grapeseed/peanut oil
salt to taste
2 tablespoons sesame seeds 

Method:

Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit.

Toss brussel sprouts with a mixture of olive oil and honey. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt.

Bake for 20-25 minutes on a cookie sheet. If you want lovely colour, be a bit precise and finicky and flip them each over at the 10 minute mark.

Remove from the oven when they're well browned and toss with the sesame seeds.

Serve immediately. Serves four.