Sweet and Sour Spicy Sesame Brussels Sprouts

Friday, October 03, 2014

Okay. I have a confession to make: I sort of cheated today and broke my own set of rules. I really do try to stick to seasonal produce and if it's not being grown near by, or as near by as possible considering I'm in a large city, I'm patient until it is; but someone in my household doesn't follow those rules and there was a bag of brussels sprouts calling my name. No one was making use of them and they were going to go to waste and I couldn't let a bag of perfectly good, albeit out of season handful of sprouts go to waste!

Isn't it amazing how differently we now perceive Brussels Sprouts (we meaning me)! They used to symbolise all things un-fun and were usually the culprit for that pungent lingering smell at your old relative's house. I don't know if it's called growing up and they were good all along or if it's just that anything roasted and caramelised tastes amazing, but if you're still on the anti-sprouts boat, please trust me and take this recipe as your life vest/one of those floating devises. 

I hope you'll forgive me and maybe wait until Brussels Sprouts are in season, (which is from the end of October until March, so not long now) although I couldn't really blame you if you didn't. 

One last thing, while writing this post I realised I've blissfully been spelling the 'Brussels' in Brussels Sprouts wrong for a while now, so please forgive me that too... 

 











Serves 2 as a side. Feel free to double, triple, quadruple the recipe.


YOU WILL NEED:

250G FRESH BRUSSELS SPROUTS
1/2 TBSP OLIVE OIL
1 TBSP SESAME SEEDS

FOR THE MARINADE:

1/2 TSP GARLIC PASTE
1/2 TSP GINGER PASTE
1/2 TBSP SOY SAUCE (I use low sodium)
2 TBSP HONEY
1 TSP LEMON JUICE
1 TSP RED TABASCO


Pre-heat the oven to 200C or 390F.

Trim the stems and the outer layers of the brussels sprouts. Cut them roughly into halves and quarters depending on their size.

Mix together the garlic and ginger paste, soy sauce, honey, lemon juice, and tabasco.

Coat the sprouts in the sauce and then toss in the olive oil. Spread them out evenly on a baking tray but do not pour too much excess of the sauce over them or they will end up soggy. (You can always keep the sauce for dipping at the end if you'd like more).

Roast for 20-25 minutes or until partly brown and partly crispy. When you remove them from the oven toss them in the sesame seeds.

Enjoy!