Bring on the Brussels

It was about this time last year, that I remember the FIG weekly emails regularly coming out with a plea to please, please, please give the lesser loved Brassica Brother 'Brussels' a go. If you give him a chance, you may just end up falling in love with him! I envisaged Maree and David going bonkers with boxes of left over brussels at the end of each week. I'm sure Maree's chickens weren't so concerned about boxes of left over brussels that people had chosen to bypass on their 'way round the tables'!

In my foodie blog reading, I stumbled across a very yummy and simple looking brussel recipe. It inspired me to head to the kitchen and dig out those discoulouring brussels that were mounting by the week in the bottom of our crisper. I elaborated a bit on the basic recipe I found, creating a delicious meal with these brassica folk. The result - YUMMINESS! My bet - once this recipe gets out there - Maree and David will need to have brussels on the extras table each week - by the box full!

I won't bore you with all the nutritional facts and figures as to why you should be eating brussels. Of course you know they're good for you - but if you DO want all that info, then you can easily find all the health benefits of brussels with a quick google search. Brussels are also a really wonderful plant to grow in your Winter veggie garden. I had NO idea how interestingly brussels grew, until we planted them in our garden last Winter. It was amazing to watch these little brassicas grow all up and down the stem on the trunk of the plant. To be honest I'd never really even thought about how a brussel grows. But it's very interesting.

~Bring on the Brussels~

...Ingredients...
• 10-12 brussels, halved
• 1/4 cabbage, shredded
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1C of lentil sprouts
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2" knob of ginger, finely chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 1t of chilli infused oil (or one medium-hot chilli finely diced, seeds removed)
• 2t of Himalayan salt

...Method...
• Heat 2T of coconut oil in saucepan
• Fry onion and spices until fragrant
• Add vegetables to steam. Turn heat to medium, ensure a small amount of liquid in pan to avoid sticking/burning, cover and steam until brussels are just cooked.
• Take pan from heat and stir through lentil sprouts
• Serve over your choice of noodles
• Top with parmesan or your favourite vegetarian/vegan cheese alternative and garnish with freshly cracked black pepper.