The Most Misunderstood Vegetable

I haven’t been posting lately, but I’ve definitely been eating. And fall meals are so delicious. It might be my favorite eating season. We’ve been feasting on Roasted Pumpkin Penne with Autumn Pesto, Butternut Squash Risotto with Pancetta, Eggplant “Meatballs” with Arugula and Shaved Fennel Salad. And Trevor has been making his own salad mix with numerous spicy winter greens.

The fall vegetable from Persephone Farm that we’ve been enjoying the most is one that many people hate: Brussels sprouts. When I posted on Facebook about the delectable Brussels sprouts we’d had for dinner, I got a firestorm of responses. A few people could not believe we found them tasty. But most of my friends professed their love for the cruciferous vegetable.

I think they’ve gotten a bad rap because if they are overcooked they can be downright hideous. I actually never ate them growing up because my mom hated them! I only tried them a few years ago when Trevor brought home a big stalk after his shift at the Farmers’ Market. But treated right, they are splendid!

We followed a recipe from Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso’s New Basics cookbook. It called for the leaves to be pulled from the Brussels sprouts and lightly sautéed in butter, olive oil and thyme. We’ve found that quartering the sprouts and cutting out the core saves a lot of time and lets plenty of leaves get separated. Which means some of the leaves get a little crispy and brown, and that's the best part.

Other suggestions: Roast in the oven with olive oil, sautée with garlic, crisp up some pancetta then sauté leaves in drippings and add crumbled pancetta to each serving.

Of course, other parts of the meal are important. With my Brussels sprouts I made, a Pancetta Wrapped Pork Roast from a Martha Stewart recipe and some roasted acorn squash also from Persephone Farm. It so good, I made the same meal again a few weeks later for my friend Maureen’s birthday.

So if you have shunned Brussels sprouts in the past, I say put aside old prejudices and give them a second chance. You might discover your new favorite vegetable.

Links:

Pancetta Wrapped Pork Roast

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pancetta-wrapped-pork-roast

Golden Bowl

Trevor and I first made Sheila Lukins’ Elegant Butternut Truffle Soup for Christmas 2004. We’d traveled east to spend the holidays with Trevor’s family and decided to make a feast with the help of his brother and sister. The soup was one of the dishes included in the “Extremely Merry Christmas” menu in Lukins’ Celebrate! cookbook. The other parts of meal included endive salad with Roquefort vinaigrette, a standing rib roast with horseradish cream, chanterelle risotto, Apple Brown Betty, and her wine suggestions Grand Cru Chablis and Pessac-Leognan. Lukins was right, it was an extremely Merry Christmas.

And the meal was a real group effort. Because we were flying in on Christmas Eve, Trevor’s parents bought all the groceries in Maryland and drove them up to Massachusetts in two large coolers. Trevor’s dad even made up menu cards that read “Denise and Trevor present Christmas dinner 2004 at Chez Carolyn” and listed the courses.

The butternut soup is the one recipe from that menu that I’ve made over and over. As soon as butternut squash is in season I remember this soup. It’s relatively simple to make (especially if you use an immersion blender instead of a food processor). So when I was down to my last butternut squash from Persephone Farm, I knew what to do with it.

I think what sets this soup apart from other butternut squash soups is the use of mace and the dab of truffle oil used to garnish. The unbelievable earthiness of the oil plays so well against the sweetness of the squash. Truffle oil can be tricky to find, but a gourmet shop, or well-stocked grocery store will have it. And it’s pricey, but a little goes a long way, and it adds extraordinary dimension to your dish.

And of course for me, each spoonful of this soup reminds me of that memorable evening.

Links:

Celebrate! by Sheila Lukins

http://www.amazon.com/Celebrate-Sheila-Lukins/dp/0761123725