For those not in the know, Tamara and I are both fanatical about Brussels sprouts. The reputation of these beautiful, tasty little cabbages suffers for a number of reasons. How many television shows have used Brussels sprouts as 'the dreaded vegetable' that children refuse to eat at dinner? I'm not going to go into it too much, but the fact is most people have not eaten frost-sweetened Brussels sprouts - and no, the freezer doesn't count. Most the sprouts people encounter are in fact frozen, but more crucial to the taste is that they are grown and harvested without their flavor being allowed to mature. California simply cannot grow Brussels sprouts like we can in upstate New York - they need the cold, particularly the frost. But, they also need an astronomically long time to grow.
With that in mind, the patience exhibited in our waiting to eat our only surviving stalk should be a point of admiration. When it was finally time to harvest the excitement was palpable. We both posed for pictures with our gigantic stalk of sprouts before chopping them off and deciding how to prepare them.
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| She's got that maniacal look on her face again |
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| A real beauty |
Fortunately there were enough for a couple of meals. The first night we decided to pan-fry them in a bit of olive oil and serve them over some kale, arugula, mizuna, and mustard greens from the garden. We accompanied the greenery with some Lebanese couscous and drizzling of brown sugar-balsamic reduction. The result, a delicious warm salad.
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| mmm mmm mmmm mmmm |
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| again, mmm mmm mmm mmm |
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