"brussels sprouts" news and stories

Oh Brussels sprouts! Your bright green color and tender insides. I love them sauteed, roasted, steamed and shredded and I think they're also one of the more photogenic veggies out there. It appears that Mike from Another Pint Please... is also fond of the sprouts and took some very nice pictures of them. Thanks Mike!

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I love potatoes. It's the sort of love that pulls me to taters of all form, and employs a devil that sits on my shoulder and convinces me to have second servings -- fried, smashed, baked, you name it.

It should be no surprise then, that I was quickly pulled to the farmers' market potato table last week, which boasted a ton of different types of potatoes, and picked the biggest one. The big beast above had to be mine. But what do you do with something that big? It seemed a travesty to cut the potato up into chunks when it was such a fun shape, so there was only one thing to do -- make a meal out of a twice-baked potato.

If you're also a potato fiend and want to make a meal out of your gigantic tater, here's what you do: First, cook your potato. Me, I like to nuke it first quickly, then bake it to get the outside firm. Then, I scooped out the middle, seasoned the inside with salt, pepper, and butter, and then got to work on the bowl of potatoes. Once they were mashed, and a few spoonfuls eaten, a lot of chopped brussels sprouts and fried wild boar bacon were mixed in with some garlic powder. It was all spooned back into the potato, topped with sharp cheese, and baked a little while longer.

The brussels sprouts made it healthy ... right?

• By 2010, Philadelphia will be in step with New York and California when it comes to mandating that restaurants with 15 or more locations post the calorie information for their food.
• While Philadelphia has a number of high-end restaurants, eating out in the City of Brotherly Love doesn't have to empty your bank account.
• Ways in which restaurants are adapting to these less flush times.
• If your budget can't handle regular take-out meals, check out these tips for eating healthfully and cheaply at home.
  
• An assortment of tips for cutting your grocery bill.
• Rick Nichols lists a number of reasons why restaurants should post calorie information.
• This week's Market Basket is overflowing with baby Brussels sprouts, a bird beak bottle opener and dark chocolate peanut butter cups from Cream Nut.
• The Rush Hour Gourmet has us poaching Fish in Cider.

For most of the years of my life, my family has eaten string beans as the main vegetable for Christmas dinner. We don't do the traditional green bean casserole, instead choosing to steam them and dress them with butter, toasted almonds, salt and a little roasted garlic. They are so good and my sister, mother and I often fight over the leftovers the next day.

However, this year we're planning on deviated from our tradition in order to have a huge bowl of these Brussels Sprouts instead. Sadly, according to our friends over at Green Daily, Brussels Sprouts are not a particularly green choice for the holiday table. Apparently the seem to have the ability to cause some people to have a bit of gas after they eat them. If you multiply that gas over the millions of people who eat sprouts for Christmas dinner, it can have something of an effect on the green house effect. Luckily, for those of us who don't want to give up our sprouts, we can follow these simple cooking tips in order to reduce their gassy effects.

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My parents had Thanksgiving dinner with some old friends this year and after the meal was over, my mom called me to rave about the Brussels Sprouts that Lucy, the friends' daughter, had made. Lucy has two young sons and had made these sprouts in the hopes that her boys would eat them. She put a lot of effort into them, removing each leaf from every small sprout head in order to get a kid-friendly consistency. When she gave my mom the recipe, she stressed that one does not have to go to such labor-intensive lengths in order to make this dish.

The way we did it last night was to chop 2 pounds of sprouts into eighths (quarter them and then halve the quarters), which took some time but was worth it in terms of cooking speed. In a large skillet, I sauteed four thinly sliced leeks (they were fairly small leeks, total yield was about 1 1/2 cups) and two chopped shallots in a couple teaspoons of olive oil. Then the chopped sprouts went in, along with a sprig's worth of minced rosemary. When the started to get a little dry, I added about half a cup of chicken stock (there happened to be some around, otherwise I would have used water). Cover until soft. At the very end, add 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg and 1/2 a cup of cream or half and half. Lastly add salt and pepper to taste.

They were so good and while they felt a little decadent, they weren't overwhelmingly rich. I think these are going to end up on the table come Christmas dinner.