Good Food News Archive - November 12, 2002

Article : Nourishing Body and Soul of Cancer Patients
Featured this week.... BRUSSELS SPROUTS
Recipes : Braised brussel sprouts with mustard butter, Brussel sprouts with balsamic vinegar, Apple custard crumble

Featured this week.... BRUSSELS SPROUTS

Brussels sprouts are a hardy, slow-growing, long-season vegetable belonging to the cabbage family. If you have nasty memories of being forced to eat mushy overcooked brussels sprouts, you need to put those aside, and try again with fresh, properly cooked sprouts-- quite a different vegetable.

For best flavour, do not to keep brussels sprouts more than a day or two in the fridge. Remove any damaged or irregular outer leaves and store fresh unwashed sprouts in plastic bags in the vegetable bin.

The key to cooking brussels sprouts is in not overcooking them. The leaves cook faster than the core, so cut an X in the bottom of the stem for even cooking when cooking the sprouts whole. When Brussels sprouts have lost the bright green color, they are overcooked and have lost a lot of their nutritional value as well. Depending on size, generally do not cook more than 7 to 10 minutes whether you are steaming, braising or boiling. Select sprouts of even size for even cooking. Large sprouts should be cut in half.

Unlike most green vegetables, brussels sprouts are quite high in protein. Although the protein is incomplete—lacking the full spectrum of essential amino acids—a serving of whole grains will make them complete. As a member of the cabbage family Brussels sprouts are a cruciferous vegetable. Current research suggests vegetables in this group offer protection against some forms of cancer. From www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/veggies/

Recipes

Braised Brussels Sprouts with Mustard Butter
Braising is an excellent method for cooking brussels sprouts. Braising means cooking food with a small amount of liquid in a tightly covered pan.

1 pound small, firm, bright green Brussels sprouts
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter or margarine
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Check each head, peel off any loose or discolored leaves. Using a paring knife, cut an X through the core end of each head.
Bring sprouts, water and salt to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Lower heat, cover and simmer. Shake pan once or twice during braising to redistribute sprouts. Cook until just tender 8 to 10 minutes. Test by piercing with a knife tip. Drain well.
Melt butter in a large skillet of medium heat. Whisk in mustard until smooth. Cook , stirring constantly until smooth and creamy, about 30 seconds. Add sprouts to skillet, coating well with the butter mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve. Serves 3 to 4. From www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/veggies/

Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic Vinegar
1 1/2 lbs fresh brussels sprouts
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 c balsamic vinegar (or other kind - red wine? cider?)
1-2 tbsp butter
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Trim off the stems and remove any limp leaves from the Brussels Sprouts. Blanch the sprouts by putting in boiling water and cooking with cover on for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking.

Heat a large frying pan and add the olive oil, garlic and onion. Saute a few minutes until the onion just becomes tender. Add the drained brussels sprouts. Saute a few minutes until they are cooked to your liking. Add the vinegar and toss so that all the sprouts are coated with the vinegar. Add the butter and salt and pepper to taste and toss again. Serves 6 to 8. From www.cdkitchen.com

Apple Custard Crumble
8 cups sliced peeled apples (about 8) Cortland or spies are good cooking apples, but any you have will do
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup milk
grated rind of 1 lemon (optional)
1 tsp vanilla

Crumble:
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp butter, cubed

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Lightly grease or spray 8-inch (2 L) square glass baking dish. Layer apple slices in dish. In bowl, whisk together sugar, flour and cinnamon; whisk in eggs until frothy. Whisk in Milk, lemon rind and vanilla; pour over apples. Spread evenly on top and press to flatten apples.
Crumble: In bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. With fingers, mix in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over apple mixture. Bake for about 50 min or until apples are tender, custard is thickened and topping is golden. From www.milkgives.com.