Lisa's Brussels Sprouts

This post was supposed to be about a shredded Brussels Sprout salad.  Well, it is.  But, it's also about Maple Bacon Braised Brussels sprouts.  I'd gone through over a year's worth of recipes on Lisa's blog and finally ran out of time.  I had a list of dishes I'd like to make.  Ok, let's be honest here.  Just open up her blog and start cooking.  Really.  It's that good.  I've visited her blog for several years now and have made maybe half a dozen recipes.  All of them have been wonderful.  I'd decided that the salad would be perfect since we have three gorgeous Brussels sprouts plants in the garden.  And, we've had a first frost so they should be just at the peak of perfection.  We'd been at the office all day and I'd printed the recipe out there.  I forgot to take it home.  Darn the luck.  Back to her blog to hunt.  So, one of the Brussels sprouts recipe that comes up is Maple Braised Brussels sprouts.  I HAD to try that too.  You know.  Just for scientific purposes.  LOL.  You believe me, don't you?

So, what did we think?  The Maple Bacon Braised Brussels Sprouts were a five on a scale of one to five.  We don't give fives out very often.  This one deserved every bit of that score.  Even if you think you don't like Brussels Sprouts, you owe it to yourself to try these.  Fabulous!

The salad was VERY good.  Still, when compared to the glazed sprouts it was a four.  Of course, you need to realize that NOTHING could compare to the glazed sprouts...  The salad was a great combination of crunchy, soft, sweet, salty, tart.  I'm going to toss some deli ham or rotisserie chicken into the leftovers and call it lunch...

Both of these recipes will be made again soon.  Thank you so much, Lisa!

Now, you're probably wondering who Lisa is.  She's the lovely blogger behind Authentic Suburban Gourmet.  Typically, she posts a Friday Night Bite once a week.  Those tend to be yummy appetizers.  Like the bourbon apricot meatballs we have started for later this week.  They were her Halloween post.  Then, if you're lucky, she'll post something else during the week.  Like the Brussels sprouts.  Lisa is from the San Francisco area.  She's an executive with a Bay area human capital firm.  I've been reading her blog since she started it in 2009.  She loves to cook and loves to entertain and loves wine.  Personally, I'd love to live next door to her!

And, you may be wondering what Blogger C.L.U.E. Society is...  We're a brand new group of bloggers.  All of us have been cooking and blogging for quite a while now so we've got some great recipes on our blogs.  Every month we'll have a different theme.  This month it's Thanksgiving side dishes.  For December it's going to be recipes your grandmother would make.  And, for January we'll be sparkling  -champagne, glitter - anything that sparkles.  All of my fellow bloggers are listed below.  I do hope you'll stop by their blogs and see what yummy creations they've come up with!

Ok, on to the recipes!

Maple Bacon Braised Brussels Sprouts
serves 4

Ingredients:

4  Brussels Sprouts, cut in half
6 strips Applewood smoked bacon, diced
3 T butter, cubed (I reduced this from six)
4 T real maple syrup (I used my beloved shagbark hickory syrup)
salt and pepper to taste (actually, we didn't think these needed any salt or pepper)

Directions:

In a medium skillet, brown the bacon until crisp.  Remove it from the skillet with a slotted spoon and drain the bacon on paper towels.  Pour out all but a tablespoon of the bacon fat.  Add the butter to the bacon fat and melt it.  Over medium heat, add the Brussels Sprouts.  Cook each side until they're browned.  Add in the maple syrup and cook until it's a glaze.  Serve topped with the bacon bits.  Lisa's recipe called for adding the bacon when you add the maple syrup.  I didn't want to cook the bacon any more so left it until I served the dish. 

Here's how the finished dish looked:

Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad

Ingredients:

for the salad:
1 1/2 lbs shredded Brussels sprouts
1 1/2 c orange segments (I used tangerines)
1/2 red onion, sliced VERY thinly
3/4 c walnuts, roughly chopped and toasted
1 c Israeli couscous, cooked and rinsed
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/4 c port
1 c ricotta salada (or feta if you can't find the ricotta salada,) crumbled


for the dressing:
2 small shallots, finely minced
2 large or 4 small garlic cloves, finely minced
1 T Dijon mustard
2 T honey
6 T champagne vinegar
1 C extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

While you're prepping the rest of the salad ingredients, put the dried cranberries in a small saucepan with the port.  Simmer them until the port is absorbed and the cranberries are nice and plump.  Mix all the dressing ingredients with the exception of the olive oil.  Drizzle that in, whisking as you pour.  Set the dressing aside for an hour to allow the flavors to meld.  You can either serve the salad as a layered salad or tossed.  It looks beautiful either way.  Here's how mine went together:

Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
Kate from Kate's Kitchen
Christiane from The Mom Chef
Debra from Eliots Eats
Lisa from Authentic Suburban Gourmet
Ramona from Curry and Comfort
Janet from From Cupcakes to Caviar
Christyfrom Culinary Diva
Alice from A Mama Baby and Shar-pei in the Kitchen
Azmina from Lawyer Loves Lunch
Kelli from Kellis Kitchen
Kim from Liv Life
Susan from Create Amazing Meals
Aly from Cooking in Stilettos
Lea Ann from Cooking on the Ranch
Kathy from Bakeaway With Me
Anna from Anna Dishes
Stacy from Food Lust People Love

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cabbage and Pine Nuts

Food and Wine strikes again.  Actually, no, they pretty much hit a home run with this one.  Isn't the English language funny?  Strike out means something totally different than strikes.  At any rate, I was reading the magazine in the car on the way to work (yes, I ride in with my hubby if I have no out-of-the office appointments) and saw this recipe.  At that point I was the owner of a mongo bag of brussels sprouts from Sams.  Now, I'm the owner of HALF of a mongo bag.  I may make this again to use up the bag.  This was that good!

The recipe says to serve immediately so I rushed to make sure the pasta and the veggies came out at the same time.  Not to worry.  This is VERY forgiving.  We ate it warm the first time and cold for lunch the next day.  I almost liked it cold better because the flavors had had an opportunity to blend and the cranberries had plumped right up.  The ingredient list and directions look a bit intimidating.  It's not as tough as it looks like it might be to put together.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cabbage and Pine Nuts

Ingredients:

1 lb brussels sprouts
1/2 c pine nuts
6 T extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
3 T fresh lemon juice
2 T honey
2 t Dijon mustard
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t ancho chili powder
1 1/2 lbs cabbage - red or green
1/2 c dried cranberries
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 oz Parmesan or Romano cheese, thinly shaved

Directions:

Trim the ends off the brussels sprouts then quarter them.  Toss them with about a tablespoon of olive oil. 

Roast them at 450 for about 15 minutes.  They'll turn a lovely golden brown as they caramelize. 

You can either set these aside and heat them back up with the garlic or prepare the rest of the recipe poste haste and not have to reheat these.

Either roast the pine nuts in the oven for about 3 minutes or toast them in a small skillet on the stovetop.  Be careful because they burn quickly!

Now, it's time to make the dressing.  Whisk together the lemon juice, honey, mustard, cayenne and ancho chili powder.  Then, whisk in 1/4 c of the olive oil.  Set the dressing aside for the flavors to blend. 

Toss the cabbage, cranberries and pine nuts together in a large bowl.

 

Heat the remaining olive oil in a medium sized skillet if you're reheating the brussels sprouts, a small one if you're not.  Slice the garlic very thinly. 

Saute it until it's golden brown.  If you're reheating the brussels sprouts, add them just before the garlic is done.  Stir constantly so the garlic doesn't burn.

Time to put it all together.  Add the garlic and olive oil plus the brussels sprouts and the dressing to the cabbage mixture.  Toss it well and serve.

Scallops with Brussels Sprouts

Scallops and Brussels sprouts.  I know, whoopee.   Well, let me tell you that sometimes first impressions are wrong.  VERY wrong.  This was a FIVE on our scale of one to five.  Hands down winner. 

A couple of weeks ago, I won a contest on Foodbuzz for a cookbook from a restaurant in Connecticut named Barcelona.  Elizabeth from EONYC had the contest.  She loves Barcelona and now I know why!!!  I found it pretty amusing because I love one in downtown Indy called Barcelona Tapas.  In fact, we're heading there in a week or so with some good friends.  It'll be Connie's first visit and my fifth - thanks to meeting clients there for lunch.

The cookbook arrived at the office and I snuck a peek.  Beautiful photography.  I snuck another peek at a couple of the recipes.  Pretty darned good.  That night, I took the cookbook home.  While dinner was cooking, I sat down in a chair (ok, the only chair one COULD sit down in since we'd had the carpets cleaned and all was total chaos) and started from the beginning.  I got to the part on the Spanish wines and knew Connie would be as fascinated as I was.  So, on went the sweatshirt and out to the porch went the cookbook.  He had the same reaction I had: We have to have a tapas party!!!!

One of the recipes stood out.  No, not because it sounded better than all the others, but because we happened to have all the ingredients. Including some wonderful little brussels sprouts from our garden.  Little is the operative word here.  The recipe called for tearing apart the brussels sprouts and browning the leaves.  Right, but not with these guys.  Guess, what?  They were still incredible.  The recipe also called for slab bacon cut into 1/2" dice.  I had our normal - Wright's Smoked Bacon.  It's thick cut bacon that we buy at Sam's Club.  I started buying it because a gal was standing in front of the bacon and said something to her sister, friend, whoever about picking up Wright's bacon.  Now, I'd talk to a rock.  So, I asked and she said Wright's is the best.  You know what, she's about Wright.  Ohhh, sorry for the pun.  I'm sure there are artisan bacons better.  But remember, this is pretty much budget stuff from Sam's.  I'm also trying to clean out the freezer for the big holiday party.  Two meals worth of scallops out there.  Score to use up half of them.  And, by the way, the recipe says to be sure to use the really good dry scallops.  I can guarantee that the scallops we buy at Sams are NOT the best kind.  So, I turned up the heat a bit and it pretty much caramelized all the liquid.  Now, the recipe called for cooking the bacon in butter and adding more butter to the almost finished dish.  Talk about gilding the lily.  There's plenty of fat from the bacon.  You really don't need any additional fat from butter.

What did we think?  Can I make this again right now and get back to you?  YUM!  If you love scallops, this is a must.  The sweetness of the scallops absolutely shines.  The brussels sprouts lose most of their musty flavor because of the scallops - well and the bacon and the white wine.  Ok, it all just plays together perfectly. 

Scallops with Brussels Sprouts

serves four

Ingredients:
1 cup Brussels Sprouts
12 giant scallops
1/4 pound bacon, chopped
2 shallots, diced
1 t chopped garlic
3/4 c dry white wine


Directions:
Trim the root end of the Brussels sprouts. 

Not exactly trimming the root end but aren't they the cutest little Brussels sprouts?

Boil the Brussels sprouts for about three minutes. 

Drain and  plunge into ice water.  Set the Brussels sprouts aside.  Once they're cool enough to handle, separate the leaves. 

Brown the bacon on medium heat.  Once the bacon has rendered its fat - about 5 minutes - add the scallops. 

Cook until they're nice and brown on the bottom.  You may need to turn up the heat to medium-high to accomplish this.  Flip the scallops.  Add the Brussels sprouts leaves, garlic and shallot to the pan. 

Stir to combine.  Remove the scallops to a warm pan.  Pour in the white wine and stir up the browned bits. 

Stir for about five minutes or until the wine has reduced by half.  Turn off the heat and add the scallops back into the pan. 

Toss to coat them then serve. 

adapted from Barcelona Cookbook