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12/17/2001 Archived Entry: "Brussels Sprouts"

Last year, Whole Foods Market, the giant supermarket that features organic foods and high-end specialty foods, opened in Manhattan. As what we call “The Taste” on the Weekend program I do with Joan Hamburg on Saturday mornings, Whole Foods sent over a tray of prepared take-out dishes for us to sample. Joan was on vacation and I was doing the program with Joy Brown, our on-air psychologist. Of all the things on the tray, Joy, the famous chocoholic, was popping whole Brussels sprouts like they were bonbons. The sprouts were slightly soft, salty, oily, sweet, and ever-so charred from their high and dry heat treatment. I loved them, too.

I think most people have a problem with Brussels sprouts because they are usually overcooked. The smallest member of the cabbage family, which also includes cauliflower, broccoli, broccoli rabe, and kohlrabi, they can, like their cousins, really stink up a house if you let them.

I did an experiment. I prepared roasted Brussels sprouts for a couple of friends who professed a distaste for them. It’s one of my irritating habits. I like to convert people to foods they think they don’t like. If, after I have made them in some perfect way (I am arrogant, too) and they still don’t like them, well, they really don’t like them. (Or they have what I call a “food stubbornness” that needs more therapy than a cook good can provide.)

I have polite friends so John and Robin wouldn’t refuse to eat the Brussels sprouts I put before them. They were willing to try a bite. John: “These don’t taste anything like what my mother called Brussels sprouts.” Robin: “I really like these.”

Brussels sprouts are, in fact, one of my favorite vegetables. They are in season from early fall and through the winter. They are still being sold at my Greenmarket, still attached to their stout stalks, 30 or so of them on each stalk. That is an amusing way to purchase them, but not at all a superior way. They are usually sold in waxed cardboard containers – approximately a pint – and sometimes loose. Look for Brussels sprouts whose stem ends are not too brown and dried, which would indicate they were harvested too long ago, and ones that don’t have too many black spotted outer leaves.

Size does not matter as far as flavor or texture are concerned. However, if you intend to boil them whole, select small spouts. If you are going to cut them in half for roasting, you can purchase larger sprouts.

To clean Brussels sprouts, cut the stem end a bit, which will free up the outer, dark and blemished leaves for easy removal. Peel off any discolored leaves.

Wash them well, whether whole or cut in halves.

To boil Brussels sprouts, bring at least a quart of water with a teaspoon of salt to a rolling boil. Add the whole Brussels sprouts and boil about 5 minutes for small sprouts, a few minutes longer for larger sprouts.

To roast Brussels sprouts, which is the way I have been cooking them this season, cut the cleaned sprouts in half through their stem ends. Place on a baking sheet. (A one-pint box fits nicely in a 10-inch pie plate.) Drizzle the sprouts with a tablespoon or so of extra-virgin olive oil and salt to taste. (A neat tablespoon is enough for one pint.) Toss the sprouts in the oil with the salt. Arrange the spouts so that they are all flat-side down.

Place in a preheated 400-degree oven and roast for 15 minutes for smallish sprouts, a few minutes longer for large ones.

The flat side of the sprouts should get somewhat brown.

Eat hot or at room temperature.