I really like Brussel Sprouts. My wife, Barbara, hates them. As a child, when she was served them, as soon as her parents looked away, she’d throw them behind the refrigerator. There was a healthy surprise for all when they finally moved.
Because Barbara doesn’t eat them I usually make them for myself when I’m home alone, like tonight while Barbara has a booksigning down at the store. A simple preparation I did this evening was quite good hot and will be excellent cold.
1 lb Fresh Brussel Sprouts, picked through
2 Lg Shallots, sliced medium
1 1/2 Tb Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tb Balsamic Vinegar
3/4 Tb White Wine Vinegar
Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 450° F. Parboil Brussel Sprouts in well salted water for about 2-3 minutes. Drain and dry. Combine with Shallots, salt and pepper, 3/4 Tb of Olive Oil, and Balsamic and mix. Pour mixture onto a baking sheet covered with tin foil and spread out in one layer. Roast in oven for about 20-30 minutes stirring once or twice to promote even browning. When done combine hot sprouts with remaining oil and Wine Vinegar. Eat some hot if you want and cool the rest. It is really quite tasty.
I came across a recipe by Chef Charles Wiley in the AZ Republic (which may be the worst newspaper in a major metropolitan area in the country) forRoast Pork Loin with Sun-Dried-Cherry Compote . The Sun-dried-cherry compote is shown below. I decided that with some slight modification it would make an excellent stuffing for a Pork Tenderloin. I used 2 bags of dried Montmorency cherries from Trader Joe’s. I made the compote, scooped out about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the cherries and shallots and, after draining the juice back into the compote, I caramelized the cherries with about 1/2 cup of crystallized ginger and some fresh thyme. Sliced a couple of pork tenderloins nearly in half horizontally, filled them with the caramellized cherries, and tied them up. Covered with some dijon mustard, rolled in some ground nuts (I used Macadamias, but almost any would likely be good) mixed with breadcrumbs, thyme, salt, and pepper. Refrigerated for a while. Browned all sides in a cast iron skillet and finished in a 425 oven for about 20 minutes. Served with compote on side – excellent.
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup Port
1 cup chicken stock
2 cups sun-dried cherries, pitted and cut in half
I’m sure this isn’t original but it suddenly occurred to me a while back as I was throwing away yet another opened can, from which I had previously used 1 Tbsp some months ago, of tomato paste with little green fury things on top that there had to be a better way. Viola! I got out the plastic wrap and extracted about three scoops each of about 2 Tbsp of tomato paste from the newly opened can, put each 2 Tbsp scoop into a plastic wrapped bundle and threw it into the freezer. And when I next needed tomato paste I actually remembered my freezer pets.
Many years ago, before I met Barbara and got involved in mysteries and publishing I did many, many things. I used to refer to myself as “a jack of all trades and master of most.” In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m a Gemini that also has Gemini rising – a double Gemini, in other words. At any rate I love to cook. It has been a lifelong passion (I started when I was eight years old) and I’m pretty good at it. So I made the classic mistake of thinking that because I love to cook I’d love to be a restaurant owner and for a year I was the owner of Moe’s Ribs in Santa Fe. We served good barbecue but BIG MISTAKE. Owning and operating a restaurant is a very different thing than cooking. Regardless, I still think that good barbecue is about the best food in the world. And when I mention barbecue I mean PIG. When a Texan says barbecue he means beef. Now a barbecued brisket of beef can be damn tasty, but it ain’t what I consider to be barbecue. Every state in the South has what it considers the best barbecue. My daughters insist that Tennessee barbecue is the king. I, having eaten at Arthur Bryants in Kansas City when Arthur was alive, contend that Kansas City leads the way, though KC sauces can sometimes be a little sweet. So I took a little walk around the web and came up with a few places that anyone who’s a vegetarian should avoid but you, gentle reader, might enjoy. An excellent essay on Tennessee barbecue and an interesting discussion of Carolina barbecue. There’s a great deal written about Kansas City barbecue. And South Carolina and Georgia barbecues are represented at the above links. And just in case you’re wondering how I got to this subject, I smoked a very well-seasoned pork butt earlier today, made a Carolina style sauce and am finishing the butt by braising it in a slow oven as I write. Tonight we’re going to have a pig pick (pulled pork) for dinner. Sorry you can’t be here.
