Beautiful, Bountiful Brussels Sprouts

I first wrote on this page that I don’t remember ever even seeing brussels sprouts before I went to college. But in a phone call with my childhood friend Sandy Knapp, I’ve been reminded — although I still don’t remember — that my mother served packaged, frozen brussels sprouts to us when Sandy and I were in high school, and since my friend loved to eat frequently at my mother’s table, I’m going to take her word for it.  I’ve obviously been in the grip of my obsession for brussels sprouts for over fifty years even if I don’t remember all the details or who made the introductions.

What I do remember is that I could buy fresh brussels sprouts when I was in Indiana in graduate school in my mid-twenties. I once ate nothing but brussels spouts with lemon and margarine for three days and lost eight pounds in the process.

I was in my thirties and living in Connecticut when I started growing my own.

In addition to loving the way they taste when cooked, I adore the way they grow, marching up that stalk, enlarging themselves along the way. I love they way they grow into winter, taking no offense at all to a light dusting of snow or a plunge in temperature. I have made a worshipful ritual of cutting that last stalk, making several meals from my final harvest. This year, without a real vegetable garden, my brussels sprouts on a stalk came from Trader Joe’s. Whatever! That’s going to change this coming summer because I am once again going to have a vegetable garden.

Here’s one of my favorite recipes for brussels sprouts, a recipe I may have made up myself. I’ve been cooking brussels sprouts this way some of the time since the 1980s, and besides being delectable, I have found this to be a good way to sneak brussels sprouts onto the plate of people who hate them or believe they do. I was honored to have it included in one of Virginia Bunn’s home cooking cookbooks a decade or so ago.

Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

A pint of brussels sprouts or around twenty

A medium to large sweet potato or yam

Two tablespoons of olive oil

Two tablespoons of brown sugar

How to cook

Wash and tear off the damaged outer leaves of the brussels sprouts

Cut the brussels sprouts in half, top to bottom

Peel and slice the sweet potato or yam into small french-fry sized pieces

Heat the olive oil in a skillet to medium heat

Stir the brown sugar around in the olive oil

Dump the brussels sprouts and potato pieces into the oil and sugar

Cook on medium heat until the pieces start to get a little brown, stir

Turn heat to low, cover skillet, and cook until fork easily penetrates brussels sprouts

You can do this in twenty to thirty minutes.