Re-exploring: Brussels sprouts

Happy new year everyone! I am back, and already breaking one of my New Year's resolutions, which is to post more of my own recipes versus sharing recipes of others. But this recipe is really worth sharing - it might change the way you think about Brussels sprouts. We cooked in for new year's, making this dish along with lobster grilled with butter, garlic, parsley and lemon zest, the scallop and cabbage recipe I shared at the end of the year, and a basic pasta with olive oil and garlic. It was a low key evening of good food and friends, the perfect way to ring in the new year.

Martha (yes, Martha) recently had chef Jeremy Fox from Ubuntu restaurant in Napa on to share some vegetarian alternatives to typical thanksgiving fare. Among the recipes shared was one for Brussels sprouts that called for just the leaves, discarding the core. While the sprouts take some preparation, the actual cooking time is reduced to mere minutes, and the approach transforms them into a beautiful emerald green color and delicate presentation. He pairs the sprouts with almond oil, chopped almonds and radishes. I have no idea why this works so well but the radish is the perfect complement to the sprouts.

The radishes called for are a mix of varieties you are highly unlikely to find in a grocery store or even typical farmer's market. Instead, I mixed common red radishes and breakfast radishes and for variety, left some whole and quartered / halved or cut the rest into matchsticks, using a mandoline to cut slice them thinly.

You can find the recipe here. Let me know what you think!