CARMEL BRUSSELS

I haven't liked Brussels since I was a child. I would sit at the table for what seemed like hours after everyone else had left the table. I wasn't allowed to leave the table until I had cleared my plate. So the brussels got pushed around and around the plate for what seemed like hours. I couldn't even bare the smell of them when I was a child.

Haven't been keen on them even as an adult. So what did my son buy for Christmas vegetables - he said that the shop didn't have any parsnips and that he got brussels instead. So I looked at some recipes to see what I could find - I finished up coming up with my own recipe for the brussels and how I could sweeten them up.

However - what I have discovered in the cooking is that brussels were never meant to be boiled. They always were meant to be baked in the oven. Although my son's dad used to eat them raw.

I have to say this recipe is delicious and I never ever thought I would ever say that brussels are delicious. I've called the recipe 'Carmel Brussels' due to the carmelized onions. I only made a small amount for two just as a taster to see whether I liked the recipe. Although my son said that it didn't matter what I did to the brussels - he would not eat that which he bought. Children hey - big smiles!

So the unlocking of the brussels - and what is required to unlock their sweet flavor.

Sliced one and half onions.
Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of honey
Pink salt and black pepper to taste
Gratin dish of Brussels
2+ heaped tablespoons of oats

Saute your onions in the olive oil - add the balsamic - salt and pepper. When they begin to soften add your honey and continue to saute - stirring well and turning the onion mixture over.

Peel your brussels while the onions are cooking.

When the onions are carmelized and ready - cover the brussels with the onions in a dish that can go in the oven. Then sprinkle the ingredients in the gratin dish with oats.  While the dish is cooking in the oven - turn the ingredients over and do this a few times until the brussels soften - eventually the mixture is also mixed up together.

Truly it is delicious - roasted oats - carmel onions and brussels sprouts.

See maybe if my mum had made those brussels sweet - maybe I would've eaten them when I was child. Why didn't she think of that. Its so simple to me.

'A half a cup of brussels sprouts provides 48 milligrams of immunity building vitamin C - more than 80 per cent of daily value. It also provides 47 micrograms of folate - 12 per cent of the dv. Folate is essential for tissue growth". 

Little things please humble hearts - and the unlocking of the brussels today - was so pleasing. Finally I can eat them and say yes - that was lovely. What a thing to happen on Christmas day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D__kV5CrU4k