Chef John: Alright, delicious Brussels sprouts, I know that sounds like an oxymoron, like it couldn't be possible, but really this is. If you look at a menu and you see delicious entrées of a grilled veal chop and then you look over and, oh my God, comes with Brussels sprout, damn it. Well, that's what happened to me. I ordered it anyway, think I was going to get those nasty brown, round smelly things you usually get when you see Brussels sprouts, and what I got was something so completely and utterly different and delicious, I was very impressed and I have been copying this technique for years. What you are going to do is, you are going to take your Brussels sprout, I have got about a dozen, you are going to cut it in half, in the prep we are going to remove this stem at the bottom. Actually it's not the stem, it's the root, alright.
Well, actually on second thought, it is the stem , that's where the Brussels sprout attaches to the main stem of the plant, so, whatever. Why we are 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 prep with your v-cut, just give them a slice across. I want this pretty thin, 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 these too big, that is not going to work.
So that's what you are looking for. Alright, now as you do this, you are going to have some of the bigger leaves that fall off, don't throw those away. Put a five or six or seven together, roll them up, little cigar shape and just cut those the same way and that's basically it for the Brussels sprout prep. Again, I had about 12 Brussels sprouts there. Here they are, very are nice, okay, put them down. Alright, so flavor, I have a half a lemon, I am going to squeeze that into a little ramekin first, this is going to go so quick on the stove. Everything has got be prepped and ready. Butter olive oil, I have got about a teaspoon of each, salt and pepper.
Now here we go. I want a cold pan on the stove, put your butter and olive oil in the cold pan, then turn it on high and you are going to leave it on high. Okay, it's going to stay high the whole way, but I want to start at low, because I want to bring up the butter slowly to the temperature, so you can control. I want it to be nice and nutty brown. You can put into a hot pan, that happens too quick. So I just kept standing there waiting, I can smell that butter, that beautiful brown butter aroma, there is nothing like that.
As soon as I see, you can actually see it there, the butter is just going to get a little bit brown and I can smell that, the aroma I am looking for, in go the shapened out Brussels sprouts, I am not sure if shapened out is a 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 in a sizzling pan, and man, it's really good.
I can believe that I am saying these for Brussels sprouts, Alright, if you see any pieces there still together, break them up, I want this to cook nice and evenly. To finish this, not too difficult, 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 amazingly delicious. I am trying to get you to get me Brussels sprouts, again, I was so anti Brussels sprout, until I had this dish and it was just so different. I think its' a real winner. So I hope you enjoyed that, give it a try.
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