melting your mouth

Pictures to come next week, when I return from a trip to Long Beach. But this is so good, I didn’t think you should be without the recipe for any longer than absolutely necessary.

I have only a vague recollection of having brussel sprouts once before a few months ago. I don’t really remember having a strong opinion one way or another the first time I had them. So I didn’t grow up hating them the way I hear some people do, but they were just sort of off my radar. Then my parents went and took a fancy cooking class down in Wastonville, and since then, both Mom and I have been making brussel sprouts left and right. I think Matt and I have eaten them as a side dish at least twice this week. (And no, the second one wasn’t leftovers. There are never any leftovers.)

So as I was saying, I don’t know whether I like brussel sprouts ordinarily on their own or not, but I sure love them this way. This recipe is delicious, and except for being doused in olive oil, pancetta, sugar, and chicken broth, they’re pretty good for me, right?

They take a bit of time to cook, but don’t be tempted to pull them out too soon, no matter how hungry you might be, as the best part of these sprouts are the golden browned caramelized edges. Oh, and the crisped up pancetta. That’s pretty delicious too.

Yet another recipe adapted from my mom and dad’s class at Mugnaini Imports. I’m telling you, these folks are real winners.

Ingredients:

6-8 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Sugar
1/2 c chicken broth
6-8 slices of pancetta
A few handfuls of brussel sprouts, cleaned

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 300 F. Drizzle olive oil generously over the garlic in a jelly roll pan. Roast in a low oven until barely golden, 10-15 minutes. (But check them often, you don’t want them to get too brown.) Sprinkle with sugar and add chicken broth. Cook for another few minutes. Take this out of the pan and mash up the garlic into the broth. If the garlic gets too brown or cooks too quickly so that it won’t really mash, no worries. Just stick it in the food processor or blender (or chop the cloves up by hand.) Set aside. Turn the oven up to about 400 F.

Meanwhile, parboil the brussel sprouts: add just enough salted water to cover (though you won’t really be able to cover since they float). Turn on the heat and boil for 5-10 minutes, until barely tender. (You should be able to stick a fork in them, but when you do you should still feel reasonably firm resistance.) Drain the brussel sprouts and set them aside until cool enough to handle.

Chop the pancetta. Brown it in the oven for a few minutes in the jelly roll pan.

Meanwhile, cut each brussel sprout in half along the same axis as the stem. When the pancetta is slightly browned (it doesn’t have to be completely done), mix the broth/garlic mixture, pancetta, and brussel sprouts. Cook in the 400 F oven about 15-20 minutes, stirring every five minutes or so, until the sprouts are nicely browned and the edges caramelized a bit.

Eat as soon as possible, as they are best when they’re hot. Though they are still good room temperature too. These are just delicious all around.

Tags: brussels sprouts, pancetta, Side Dish, Vegetable

This entry was posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 11:44 am and is filed under Recipes, Side Dish, Vegetable. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.