Brussels sprouts used to be a mystery to me. Always ordered in the restaurant, never attempted at home, except for a few lackluster attempts that never lived up to the restaurant version's perfection.
What is a perfect brussels sprout? Nutty roasted with crispy charred leaves, a tender inside and no bitterness to be found.
Turns out, with this vegetable, like as is the case with so many others, less is more. Don't fuss with it too much and it'll bring its glory to the surface.
First, bacon makes every delicious. Olive oil and salt with an oven set at 400 degrees is the fool proof method. Lemon juice balances out any bitterness that might occur. And a dusting of mizithra or other similarly hard and salty cheese rounds it all out.
Turns out, if you pick fresh brussels sprouts with tight leaves and don't cut them in half, the inside of the sprout will steam itself into soft goodness while the outside gets a nice char.
Seriously simple.
Ingredients
1 lb of brussels sprouts
2 slices of bacon
1/4 a cup of olive oil
2 teaspoons of salt
1 wedge of lemon
2 teaspoons of mizithra cheese
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Chop the stems off the bottom of the brussels sprouts and remove any yellow leaves. Rinse and let dry.
3. Slices the bacon into slivers and lightly sauté to wick off some of the fat and separate the pieces.
4. Toss the brussels sprouts and sautéed bacon in olive oil and salt.
5. Spread out the coated brussels sprouts and bacon on a cookie sheet and place in the preheated oven. Let them bake for 30 minutes or until the outer leaves of the brussels sprouts are mildly charred.
6. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and squeeze some lemon juice over the brussel sprouts. Dust with mizithra cheese.
7. Enjoy the wonders of this amazingly simple dish.
