Monday 15 October 2012

A sprout is for life not just for Christmas!

So I have mentioned the 'C' word in my blog title, but I feel it's very apt as I am having brussel sprouts for dinner hooray! Not just brussel sprouts on their own obviously as that would be wrong but I am having them with a roast dinner, and for those of you that don't know -
 
I LOVE BRUSSEL SPROUTS!
 
As soon as they become available in the shops I buy as many as I can because I think they are totally delicious. I have made soup with them, I use them in bubble and squeak and an Indian friend once told me she had made a brussel sprout curry and the thought of it excited me......... a lot!
 
I know they are an acquired taste and I haven't always loved them but over the years they have grown on me more and more and these days any roast from the autumn onwards has a huge pile of them - right next to the carrots. My hubby is fairly partial too, but not as keen as I am which is great as that means there's all the more for me.
 
Victoria Wood once talked about Christmas and she said 'oop north' you would put your sprouts on around November . I prefer mine fairly al dente, but really I'm not fussy as it's the taste and not the texture that tantalises my tastebuds.
 
Marks and Spencer do gigantic ones - they are probably full of all sorts of chemicals but I love them the best so I don't care.
 
And once on Hugh Fearnley Whittingsdale's River Cottage show he got Tim, one of his assistants to make a sprout pate which I always forget about but it's something I would definitely try.
 
Jamie Oliver peeled them and stir fried the skins in olive oil and garlic - this is wrong. All you need to do is peel them,  put a  cross on their cute green little bottoms and throw them into a pan of boiling water. I don't add bacon, chestnuts or anything to them because as a vegetable they should stand alone and not be messed with. Using them in a pate or curry is another matter, but Jamie Oliver's idea was ( in my eyes ) sprout abuse.
 
Tomorrow is my first weigh in after rejoining fat club and I am hoping for a decent loss. It is also a taster session where we all bring along something healthy that we've made. I am getting up early to make a smoky sausage ragu with pasta but on hindsight I wish I had bought more of my favourite small round green vegetables and I could have gone for that curry or pate.
 
Ah well, there's always  next time.................

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