So I mentioned in my Brussels sprouts post that I would share with you a recipe my wife Meg prepared for Thanksgiving dinner that may just be the best Brussels Sprouts dish I’ve ever tasted. What makes them so great is they are first roasted and then sauteed. The cup of heavy cream doesn’t hurt either.

It comes from Tasha DeSerio’s article in the Oct/Nov issue of Fine Cooking and is called Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Wild Mushrooms and Cream. Just saying, all that makes my mouth water.

Tasha DeSerio is a food writer from Berkeley, California who co-owns a catering company called Olive Green Catering. According to the cooking magazine, she “honed her skill for preparing seasonal vegetables at Chez Panisse, where she cooked for five years.”

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Wild Mushrooms and Cream
Serves 6 - Adapted from Tasha DeSerio’s recipe in fine Cooking

Ingredients:

• 1½ lbs Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved lengthwise
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt (Kosher if you have it)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¾ lbs mushrooms (the recipe calls for the wild kind like chanterelles or hedgehogs. We couldn’t find them so we used crimini) – they should be cut into 1-inch wedges
• 1 large shallot, sliced thinly
• ¼ cup dry white wine
• 1 cup heavy cream – not half and half, but the heavy stuff
• Freshly ground black pepper

How to Prepare at Home

Start by putting the oven rack into the center of the oven and preheat to 450°F. If you’re asking yourself how did my wife roast the Brussels sprouts on the center rack next to a big turkey, she didn’t.  She roasted the Brussels sprouts first and got them ready for the second phase of cooking – sautéing.

Prepping and Roasting the Brussels Sprouts

While the oven is preheating, place the Brussels sprouts in a large bowl and top with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter. The original recipe has you do this on a rimmed baking sheet, but I find it easier and more efficient to work in a bowl. Yes, one more thing to clean but I think you get better coverage.

Spread the Brussels sprouts onto a rimmed baking sheet, season with salt and roast in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the Brussels sprouts are nicely brown and fork tender. Remove from the oven and start preparing the mushrooms.

Sautéing the Mushrooms

Heat a large fry pan (skillet, sauté pan) over high heat until sufficiently hot. How do you know when it is sufficiently hot? Read my article called How Hot Should You Heat Your Pan When Sautéing?

Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of butter and then the mushrooms in a single layer. Cook until the mushrooms are golden-brown and all the liquids from the mushrooms has evaporated. This takes about 8 minutes. Season with salt to taste, transfer to a plate and reserve.

Finish the Dish

Reheat the large fry pan over medium high heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. Add the shallot, a pinch of salt and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes until the shallot is tender.

Add the white wine and continue cooking until the wine is reduced by half. Add the mushrooms back to the pan along with the Brussels sprouts and heavy cream. Give everything a stir, taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
Let this cook for another 4 minutes or until the cream thickens to your desired consistency. Again taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if needed.

Serve right away.

Related Topics

All About Brussels Sprouts

This week we received a box of fresh, ripe mangoes as part of a Fruit of the Month club that someone generously gave us over the holidays. I cut open one of the mangoes to sample with my youngest daughter and it was like eating sweet candy. I knew we had to use these up soon because they were so ripe so I immediately thought of Mango Salsa.

What’s On Hand Mango Salsa

Mango salsa is one of those dishes that is very versatile and can be made with what you may have on hand in the refrigerator, my favorite kind of recipe.  I happen to have most of the ingredients needed for this recipe except I did have to borrow a fresh lime from my neighbor.

I even had a jicama, a legume that looks like a turnip but is sweet and crispy and is popular in Mexican cuisine that I cut up into small chunks and toss in. Jicama tastes like a cross between an apple or pear and water chestnuts.  Found in most supermarkets today, it is an edible root that you may want to play around with.

Versatility

We served this batch of mango salsa with roasted fresh salmon and tonight I’m thinking of grilling or pan-frying some chicken breasts to serve with what’s left. Of course it would be great with tortilla chips, a stir-fry or how about a mango smoothie.

One tip I would offer is to not overwhelm the salsa with mango. I have been served mango salsa in restaurants where all you taste is the mango. The batch I made last night was balanced nicely with plenty of mango but also with the other ingredients so there were layers of flavors. I was very pleased with the overall flavor.

The Reluctant Gourmet’s Mango Salsa

Here’s what I added to my mango salsa, but you can experiment with lots of ingredients. Lot’s of folks like to add chile peppers to spice it up, but since I was serving it to the kids, I left them out.

The size of the dice really depends on your own personal preferences. Do you like it chunky or finely diced? I like to finely dice the onion and chile pepper if included but leave the mango and jicama a little larger.

Ingredients:

• 2 fresh & ripe mangos, peeled & pit removed and diced
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• ½ red onion, finely diced
• ½ jicama, peeled and diced
• ½ bunch of fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• juice from a whole lime
• Salt & Pepper, to taste

Alternative ingredients:
Jalapeño chile, garlic, cucumber,  avocado, apples, black beans, corn,  fresh pineapple

How to Make Mango Salsa at Home

After you cut up all the ingredients, combine them in a bowl and squeeze the lime juice on top. Season with a little salt and pepper, stir, then taste. You can adjust the seasoning by adding a little of this or a little of that to make it more or less hot.

If you use fresh ingredients, it’s going to taste great right away but if you let it sit an hour or more and let the flavors meld together, it’s going to taste even better. I’m betting it is going to be incredible tonight with chicken.

I served this mango salsa with salmon and fresh local corn and a glass of 2008 Cloudline Pinot Gris from Oregon.  Simple, easy and absolutely delicious.

Related Topics

Mango Salsa with Black Beans

Creamed corn is a sweet and silky treat. Corn has natural thickeners in it - they don’t call it “corn starch” for nothing—so this dish doesn’t need any additional thickeners. If you are used to either making creamed corn with added starches or you usually just buy it canned, you owe it to yourself to try this easy and classic version.

The real trick to making creamed corn is in how you slice the kernels off the cob. You want to release as much of the starches as possible to thicken the dish, and the best way to do this is to “shave” the tips off of all the kernels on your first pass, and then cut the remaining part of the kernels off in the second pass. After you slice off all the kernels, scrape down the cob with the back of a chef knife to get as much of the pulp and milk as you can.

As always, you can jazz it up with herbs and spices. This is just a great basic recipe to get you started.

Creamed Corn

Ingredients:

• 1 small yellow or white onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 6 ears of corn, shucked and cleaned
• ½ cup water
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• A heavy pinch of sugar (optional—omit if your corn is very sweet)
• ½ cup heavy cream

How to Make at Home

Slice kernels off the cobs as described above.

Heat a saute pan over medium-low heat until hot. Add the butter and swirl to coat the bottom.

Sweat the onion with salt and pepper until softened and translucent. Don’t let them brown, so adjust the heat down if the onions are starting to take on color.

Add the corn kernels and all the pulp and milk you scraped off of the cobs along with the water. Add a pinch more salt and pepper and the sugar (if using). Bring to a boil, stirring constantly and mashing the kernels against the bottom and sides of the pan to extract all the starches.

Add the heavy cream and reduce slightly until thick and creamy. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Eat creamed corn as is, or stir in some minced fresh herbs.

Related Topics

Cooking Corn on the Cob

Creamy Corn Soup Recipe

Grilled Corn on the Cob

Jersey Sweet Corn