How to Make Delicious Brussel Sprouts

Alright, Delicious Brussel Sprouts. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, like that couldn’t be possible, but really this is. So you look at a menu and you see delicious entrées like grilled veal chop and then you look over and oh my god, it comes with brussel sprouts. Damn it. Well, that’s what happened to me. I ordered it anyway. I’m thinking I was going to get those nasty, brown, round, smelly things you usually get when you see brussel sprouts. And what I got was something so completely and utterly different and delicious. I was very impressed and I’ve been copying this technique for years. What you’re going to do is you’re going to take your brussel sprouts. I got about a dozen. You’re going to cut it in half and to prep, we’re going to remove this stem at the bottom. Actually, it’s not the stem. It’s the root. Actually, on second thought, it is the stem. It’s where the brussel sprout attaches to the main stem of the plant, so whatever. And why we’re doing this little extra step here is so when we slice these, we don’t have a thick piece of that stem end at the bottom. That’s going to not look as good and it’s going to hold some of the leaves together and it’s just not as nice. So take that out, so once you get that prepped with your V cut, just give them a slice across. I want this pretty thin, okay? The thinner, the better. The key to this dish and why it’s so vibrant and delicious and slightly crunchy is because it has such a short cooking time and if you cut this too big, that’s not going to work. So that’s what you’re looking for. Now, as you do this, you’re going to have some of the bigger leaves that fall off. Don’t throw those away. Put 5, 6, or 7 together and roll them up, a little cigar shape and just cut those the same way. And that’s basically it for the brussel sprout prep. Again, I had about 12 brussel sprouts there. There they are, very nice. Alright, to flavor them, I have a half of lemon. I’m going to squeeze that into a little ramekin first. This is going to go so quick on the stove. Everything has got to be prepped and ready. Butter, olive oil, I got about a teaspoon of each, salt and pepper. Now, here we go. I want the pan—a cold pan on the stove, put your butter and olive oil in the cold pan, then turn it on high and you’re going to leave it on high. It’s going to stay high the whole way, but I want to start low because I want you to bring up the butter slowly to temperature so you can control. I want it to be nice and nutty brown. If you put it into a hot pan, that happens too quick. So I just kept standing there and waiting. I can smell that butter, that beautiful brown butter aroma. There’s nothing like that. As soon as I see it, you can actually see it there. The butter is just getting a little bit brown and I can smell that, the aroma I’m looking for, and go the chiffonaded brussel sprouts. I’m not sure if chiffonaded is the word. Juice of half a lemon and that little bit of liquid is going to basically pan steam these, again, high heat, so this is going to go real quick. It’s got just a beautiful color that happens. You can smell the lemon and the brown butter and the sizzling pan, and man, that’s really good. I can’t believe I'm saying this about brussel sprouts. If you see any pieces there still together, break them up, you want it to cook nice and evenly. To finish this, not too difficult. A little freshly ground black pepper, always freshly ground, and a little bit of salt. That’s to taste, of course. If you want to throw a little cayenne, you could. And there we go. Now again, that was in the pan maybe—not even a minute, maybe 30, 45 seconds. It’s going to have a little bit of texture to it. It’s not supposed to be soft. It’s just—it’s amazingly delicious. I’m trying to get you to eat brussel sprouts. Again, I was so anti-brussel sprouts until I had this dish and it was just so different. I think it’s a real winner. So I hope you enjoyed that, give it a try.