Brussel Sprouts!

What image does that conjure in your head? Mmmmm. Yum, yum, yummy! Or ick, uck, gleck, blech, blech, blech, dear-Lord-in-heaven, are you kidding me?

Well, to be totally honest, up until a few years ago, it was the latter for me. Just the idea of brussel sprouts made me want to hurl. And I don’t hurl easily, let me tell ya.

I remember them being made somewhere, and they were boiled or steamed to death or something. Anyway, that boiled cabbage smell permeated the air, and it was disgusting. And my reaction was, “Ick, uck, gleck, blech, blech, blech, dear-Lord-in-heaven, are you kidding me?”

But then, one sweet, sweet day, I was out to dinner at this amazing restaurant here in my little town of Pacific Grove, CA called The Red House. (It’s awesome! If you are ever in town, go there!) And roasted brussel sprouts were my vegetable side dish. I stared at them. “Um, excuse me. There must be some mistake. I don’t DO brussel sprouts.”

But, being the intrepid food taster that I am, I sucked it up and tried one. Just to say I did.

After about 5 seconds of chewing and tasting, I shoved every last one of those mothers in my mouth. “Oh, wow, yum, yum, yum, dear-Lord-in-heaven, are you kidding me? Holy mackerel! These are awesome!”

Why didn’t anybody tell me that brussels sprouts are actually amazing when cooked correctly? I mean seriously awesome.

I had to make them at home. I looked up how to cook them, and the overwhelming recommendation was to roast them.

Easy, peasy. Just clean them up. Cut them in half. Coat with olive oil, salt and pepper. Pop in the oven for 20 minutes. Yum, yum, yum.

But then we kept going to my in-law’s place when my step mother-in-law would make brussel sprouts in cream sauce. They were so good. I kept quizzing her on what she was doing, but as you have learned in this post and this post, she doesn’t measure or do recipes.

I have now spent months trying to recreate what she makes, and I finally did it. It is so exciting because now I get to share this fabulous recipe with you. And you get to make this awesome brussels sprouts recipe for yourself. Trust me on this one. You will be so happy you made this. So much so that you will be very disappointed when you eat the last one on your plate.

You might notice a couple of things in the pictures. There are pomegranate seeds in some pictures. They are not in the recipe below and are not required for this dish. You can add them for a nice little twist, but I just thought they looked pretty.

Also, you might notice there isn’t a thick, heavy cream sauce in the picture. That’s because it is a nice light cream sauce that just barely clings to the brussels sprouts. And it’s just perfect that way.

This recipe is so easy. Great to make when you want to impress or just enjoy some nice comfort food.

More Side Dish Recipes

Kale Salad Recipe with Bacon, Walnuts, and Avocado

Zucchini with Roasted Red Peppers Recipe

Kale Salad with Figs, Prosciutto, and Walnuts

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