Brussels sprouts for breakfast, brussels sprouts for lunch, brussels sprouts for dinner

The reader of this blog may be excused for thinking that roasted cruciferous vegetables are a major portion of my diet, because they are. I do eat them in other forms (witness the Indian cabbage recipe/technique from a few months ago), and even boiled or steamed (we had an excellent marinated brussels sprouts with the roast beef birthday dinner I reported on a while back -- made according to the late lamented Laurie Colwin's recipe from the also late lamented Gourmet magazine in 1992 -- see http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/664658 ). But for most of them, especially brussels sprouts, cauliflower in all its varieties and broccoli, roasting is usually the way to go. I couldn't get my wife to eat brussels sprouts until we roasted them, and now it is hard to get her to stop. We'll start with two dinner recipes, then eat some leftovers for breakfast, and then another variation that I had for lunch today.

So, here is a basic recipe, based on that of Arthur Schwartz from his excellent site, The Food Maven ( www.foodmaven.com):

Roasted Brussels Sprouts, (For Dinner)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Trim and split sprouts vertically.
3. Line a baking sheet with foil, spray it with olive oil spray and sprinkle lightly with coarse salt.
4. Put the sprouts on the sheet, leaving a bit of room between them -- you can either put them all cut side down or haphazardly, I like the latter. Spray the sprouts again, and sprinkle with some more salt -- we use Maldon here.
   
5. Bake 15-25 minutes, depending on your oven, the size of sprouts, and how soft you like them.
6. Broil for a minute or two to brown the top if you want.
7. Eat hot or warm; nice with a squirt of lemon or drizzled with lemon infused olive oil, or drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with za'atar.

Variation #1: instead of spray, oil the sheet and toss the sprouts with oil and salt. The caloric difference is not that great after all.

Variation #2: Roast them whole for a bit longer.

Fancier Brussels Sprouts, for Dinner

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
2. Heat a large cast iron skillet on high for about 2 minutes.
3. Put some olive oil in the skillet and spread around lightly, and sprinkle in some coarse salt.
4. Put whole, trimmed brussels sprouts in the skillet, and cook on high heat for another minute.
5. Put the skillet in the oven and bake about 20-25 minutes, maybe a bit longer. until the sprouts are tender.
6. Broil for a minute or two if you want them browner.
7. Remove the skillet from the oven, add a pat or two (or three or four) of butter, shake to melt, drizzle with a little good balsamic vinegar, swirl around and serve hot.

Brussels sprouts for breakfast

1. Take about 1/2 cup of leftover sprouts from the first method, if there are any. You may wish to zap them briefly in the microwave to take the chill off.
2. Make a 2 or 3 egg omelet. You can even make an omelet with egg whites out of the container and it will be good prepared this way.
   
3. Put the sprouts in the middle of the omelet, add some grated cheddar or similar cheese, fold the omelet over, and cook until cheese melts and sprouts are warm.
4. (The leftover sprouts also make a great frittata.)

Brussels sprouts for lunch

1. This is a variation on the first recipe. I had it for lunch today after picking up some brussels sprouts at the farmer's market and used about 3/4 pound of sprouts, cooking them in a 9 inch square metal pan, cut side down.
2. After the sprouts have baked, broil for 1 minute. Then top with a handful of grated parmesean cheese, a few spoons of breadcrumbs, some hot pepper flakes to taste, and drizzle with a little olive oil or spray with oil spray.
3. Broil 2-3 minutes until the cheese melts and begins to brown. It will be crisp and unbelievably delicious and is really a meal in itself (for one person, if you like it as much as I do).

It should go without saying that you should use fresh, green brussels sprouts without yellow spots, mold or bruises for all these recipes.