Wine for The Sprout

I am a lover of the Brussels Sprout. I know sprouts are an often-detested veggie, but even as a kid I loved them. My mom would give us those frozen Birds-Eye ones, the kind that come in a butter sauce. Yummy.

In the past I simply boiled the sprouts, but lately I have developed my favorite sprout recipe, which I will share with you now:

I get the one-pound bags of sprouts from Trader Joe's, as well as a packet of their chicken basil pesto sausage.

I heat the oven to 425, and then I cut the ends off the sprouts, pull off any dirty outer leaves and cut each sprout in half. When I've done all of them, I put them in a colander, wash them off and leave them to drain.

On the stove-top, I heat a dutch oven (something that can go from stove to oven), add some olive oil, and when it's hot I add one of the chicken sausages which I've cut into pieces. I let the sausage brown, then add the sprouts. After about a minute or so, I add maybe a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, and put the pot into the oven.

They cook for about 40-50 minutes, and it's a good idea to stir them every 15 minutes or so. About 5 minutes before I plan to take them out of the oven, I add a few turns of salt and a handful of raw sliced almonds. After about 5 minutes back in the oven, the almonds become toasted and fragrant.

These sprouts are absolutely delicious, and they are well accompanied by the Craggy Range Sauvignon Blanc I recommended on Thursday.

Steve and I can eat the whole lot of sprouts in one sitting.

Only problem is that that night, we are in desperate need of the Better Marriage (aka Fart) Blanket. Ah well...it's a small price to pay for some of the yummiest sprouts in town (if I do say so myself)!

Let me know if you try this recipe!!