Roasted Brussel Sprouts (life's bitter secret caught sweet... and simple)
Thursday, December 18, 2008 | Author: A Vegetarian that Cooks Meat
So I've been awfully sick the past few weeks. No appetite, really. I used every molecule of ATP & ADP (energy) in me to studying for the wretched finals. For some odd reason, it's been raining in Southern California. Nothing compared to New York City, but the weather change made me feel worse. The depression from being homesick nine months out of the year does not help either. I've lost some weight, and I promised my parents (prior to my leaving NYC for the new semester) that I'd try to eat regularly and not indulge myself in so much school work. Basically, I'm making up for the weight loss in just 2 days. Figured it was better than nothing.

I walked into Trader Joe's on my way back from the library the other day and saw a bag of organic brussel sprouts. My eyes widened and I began to salivate. Ok ok, I know how people feel about brussel sprouts, but c'mon! I'm a vegetarian, for heaven's sake! I'm already doing without meat. I'm not going to limit myself from veggies, too!

Picture taken from Hungry In Hogtown


The reason why I love brussel sprouts so much is because of it's bitterness. Reminds me of bitter gourd. My assumption is; if you're Asian, you've had bitter gourd before. Anyway, back to the brussel sprouts. So how does one make a simple (and I mean SIMPLE) brussel sprouts dish, eliminating some of it's bitter taste.

Ingredients
  • 3 cups of brussel sprouts (I think that's approximately 1 bag of 'em from Trader Joe's. Forgot to check)
  • 1 ½ tablespoon balsamic vinegar (the balsamic vinegar gives it a sweet & tangy taste, without adding sugar)
  • salt to taste (I used 1 teaspoon of kosher salt... it was right there on the counter. Got too lazy to go that extra foot for regular salt)
  • cracked peppercorn to taste
  • minced ginger (optional, but it makes the dish smell so Christmassy!)
  • cooking spray

1. Preheat the oven to 350° degrees and spray your roasting pan with cooking spray.

2. Cut the brussel sprouts into halves & quarters and pour them into the pan.

3. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar on top and sprinkle with salt & pepper.

4. Bake for 25 minutes and you're done! I must warn you, there will be some shrinkage (see pictures below), so if you're planning on making it for a crowd, double the recipe! It should look something like this:


oOoh, time for me to eat! Bye!

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1 comments:

On December 30, 2008 at 10:05 PM , Anonymous said...

Surprising this is one dish even I can make. It wasn't too hard. Thank you. Now I know how to make three things. A killer spaghetti/lasagna, baked zucchinis, and this.