They kind of look like tiny brains...

It's true. All I could think about when I was slicing up the wee Brussels sprouts was how much they look like tiny brains. An excellent thing to keep in mind for a zombie theme party...make a nice glaze and add some red food coloring or beet juice...watch Sean of the Dead...find some Cornettos and munchies to make it complete. Guests could bring their own weapons! Blunt ones! Oh the possibilities!!

But seriously, Brussels sprouts. Both the lovely Lizbeth and my Aunties M &D wrote back encouraging me to roast the little fuckers, and as it's my favorite hobby I did. The first time they were a bit dry, melting butter helped a lot but I felt they had more to offer. After some searching I found Smitten Kitchen made a dish that involved a balsamic glaze which sounded fantastic. But of course this afternoon when it came time to make a late lunch I took a look at the recipe, noted all the steps and ingredients, did some calculations and decided I didn't feel

like it. Not today at least. Perhaps some other time when I was less hungry and lazy.

So I decided to give roasting another go. I've gotten even lazier in my roasting process if you can believe it. I was already a fan of putting down aluminum foil as it both eliminates cleanup AND lessens the chance you're going to ruin your pan like I'm in the habit of doing. Now I've gone a step further and instead of tossing the veggies, oil and S&P in a bowl I do it straight on the foil. I know. As long as you're generous in your oil glugs and use a wooden spoon so you don't tear the foil rolling the veg around you'll be just fine. Even better then fine as you'll have no bowl to wash! Hurrah!

Now just in case it was a repeat of last time and they were too dry I did find a less complicated recipe for a balsamic glaze in the America's Test Kitchen cookbook:

Whisk 6 tbs olive oil, 2 tbs balsamic vinegar, 1 tbs maple syrup, 1 minced shallot, and 1/4 tsp dry mustard in a large bowl. Season with S&P then toss in the veggies. Serves 4.

I put the oil, vinegar and maple syrup in a saucepan with some minced garlic and let it reduce a bit before adding the mustard etc and it was quite tasty. Though I only did it on half the sprouts because somehow this time they were absolutely delicious just roasted. It might be that I used more salt, or that I left them in for only 15 minutes and did not stir at all (I was showering) so they got nice and brown while maintaining a moist center. Or something.

I am going to eat the roast ones as a side for supper with my newest favorite thing to do with pasta:

Cook 3 cups farfalle pasta, saving some of the cooking water before draining. Cut up two wedges of Laughing Cow Original cheese and melt over the pasta, stirring and adding pasta water if needed for nice even coverage. Then add some arugula to wilt if you so desire, S&P and the most important part is throwing in a few handfuls of chopped walnuts. Serves 2 or 1 for dinner and lunch the next day. It's a very fall/winter sort of recipe. When tomatoes no longer seem appropriate and nuts are.

Speaking of which when was the last time you cracked some nuts? Seriously! While at home the lovely Lizbeth and I hunkered down over a bowl of mixed nuts and went to town with a nutcracker (not the creepy wooden kind, the scary I Mean Business metal kind). It was a lot more fun than I had anticipated, even though you have to work for your food. A cloth towel and nut pick add to the ease of the process. Fewer nuts shattering all over the table (and floor) and forks work ok for getting into the crevices but a pick most likely is much easier... If small children come to your house this seems like an excellent activity to make them do. As long as they don't hurt themselves or choke to death of course.

With lots of couch snuggling, snow watching and copious cups of tea this has been a perfect winter Sunday and I hope you are having as much fun on this extra long weekend as I am! Go eat some sprouts!