An attempt at brussel sprouts...

Brussel sprouts are one of the foods that I believe to be an acquired taste.  It was something I never had growing up because my mother hates them.  Nick, however, loves brussel sprouts - seriously, one of his favorites.  The first time I tried them was at Craigie on Main.  There, the brussel sprouts were roasted in duck fat - I mean, if there was ever a time to try them, it was there.  Sure enough they were super tasty.  My favorite?  No, but definitely something I would have again.

Trying to be the good fiance that all significant others strive for, I decided to attempt brussel sprouts at home as a nice side to some the frozen pre-seasoned fish from Whole Foods that I love so much.  Lets just say, I did not enjoy these as much as I hoped.  They were good, but I just need more crunch to my brussel sprouts.  Maybe roasting is a better option.





I was not sure what to do so I decided to just wing it, but I figure bacon makes everything better and probably a good place to start.  To begin, I sliced up a bunch of thick and smokey bacon and added it to my Le Creuset dutch oven and allowed it to cook until the bacon started to brown and also left plenty of grease and brown bits on the bottom of the dutch oven.

Sliced Bacon

While the bacon was cooking away and flavoring the pot I chopped up some white onions and prepared the brussel sprouts.

The nemesis

Once the bacon finished up, I removed it from the dutch oven and set it aside for later.  I then went ahead and added the chopped onion and allowed it to brown up a bit - probably about 8 minutes (I wanted them nice and tender).

Onions cooking

Once the onions were well on their way I added the brussel sprouts to the dutch oven.




I then put the top on and allowed everything to cook together for some time - ensuring that the brussel sprouts cooked all the way through.  Since I had some on hand, I decided to slice up some crimini mushrooms and added them to the oven and put the top back on and allowed it all to continue to cook.

Just about done...

Finally, I added the bacon back in, gave it all a big stir and plated it with the fish that was sitting on a bed of rice.

Dinner is served

Nick enjoyed these brussel sprouts.  The bacon flavor definitely came across which made them tastier in my opinion.  However, I still found them like eating a miniature head of lettuce.  In order to get them more like the Craigie on Main variety that I really like, I think I need to roast them and get them crunchier.  But, if you like brussel sprouts, this is a delicious side dish.

How do you make your brussel sprouts?