So. I decided to make myself some dinner, and looked in the fridge, just to realize that we didn’t really have much of anything to make. Some canned tomatoes, corn, and beans, a tiny little block of cheese, some milk, and a bunch of dried grains. At a bit of a loss, I pulled open the vegetable crisper, and saw that we had a bunch of Brussels Sprouts that had been in there for a couple of weeks, and were probably on the verge of going bad.

I’ve never made Brussels Sprouts before, so I didn’t really know what to do, but I found a recipe on this page after a quick search, and not only did it sound fantastic, I had all the ingredients to make it!

Ingredients!

1.5 lbs Brussels Sprouts
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter 
2 cloves of garlic 
1 medium onion (or 1/2 large onion)
salt and pepper
 

Method!

 1. Wash your sprouts! Cut off the bottoms, and remove any leaves that appear to be bad.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
3. Add the Brussels Sprouts to the water, and cook for 5 minutes.
4. While the sprouts are cooking, finely chop your garlic and onion.
5. After the time is up on your sprouts, drain them, and rinse with cold water, until they’re cool to the touch.
6. Cut the sprouts in half (top to bottom).
7. Heat a skillet or sautee pan, and add oil.
8. Once oil is hot, add your onions, and cook until they begin to caramelize.
9. Add garlic, and cook thoroughly. —I put this as its own step, because garlic, especially when finely chopped, burns fairly quickly.
10. Add the Brussels Sprouts, I put them in “face down” (open side down?), and let ‘em cook until they were a golden brown color, and then stirred and tossed ‘em until they started to get that color all over.
11. Add your balsamic, and then let it cook until it no longer gives off such a strong vinegar-y smell.
12. Add your butter, and then salt and pepper to taste.
13. Stir until the butter is all melted, and everything is mixed in together, and then serve and enjoy! It’s best right out of the pan. 

Optional side! Rye Toast!

Ingredients:

Sliced Rye Bread

Method!

1. Take your slices of rye, and rub them along the bottom of the pan you used to make your dish, to soak up the flavors.
2. Add your extra tablespoon of butter
3. Toast the rye bread, to your own desired level of crispiness. 
4. Eat it with, or after the sprouts. I liked using it to soak up the juice that had escaped to the bottom of the bowl. It really complimented the flavor of the dish. 

And you can’t tell me that this doesn’t look amazing.

Note of interest: I didn’t have any garlic or onion, so I used a medium sized shallot instead, and it came out really well, so that is a possibility as well.
Note of slightly less interest: Sorry if I broke the directions down a little too much. Its easier for me that way. If you’d rather see me do it differently, just let me know, and I’ll cut it down to 3-5. 

I forgot to take a picture of it with the toast, in the bowl, before I ate it. But uh… you get the idea. Fan-friggin-tastic.