Enjoy the Delicious

If you told me when I was 13 that I would end up spending Sunday afternoons doing things like roasting and devouring veggies such as brussels sprouts I would have called you crazy and gone back to flipping through my Teen Beat.

Growing up, I hated vegetables.  In fact, I hated most food.  I was painfully picky and any foods that I did eat would have to be slathered in sauce or gravy.  The melodrama of feeding me exasperated my mother and she usually gave in to pasta dishes and baked potatoes slathered in butter and sour cream and topped with SpaghettiOs...don't ask!

Along the way, my tastebuds yearned for more and I began this culinary experiment we call cooking.  Things that used to make me feel ill now give me the utmost gastronomical pleasure.  Sprouts, sweet potatoes, roasted red onions, cauliflower...I just cannot get enough.  I think what pulled me over to the dark side is actually the preparation of these veggies.

When I was young, veggies were tossed into a boiling pot of water and cooked within an inch of their life.  When I prepare them, I do nothing but roasting.  There is a huge taste difference between roasting and boiling your veggies.  For one, when you roast you can coat your veg with anything you like and the flavors infuse while the high oven temp caramelize and sweeten them.  Even when I make mashed sweet potatoes, I roast them before smashing.

Tonight I made brussels sprouts and I'm in heaven at the taste.  It's so unbelievably easy you won't believe that you haven't tried this before although, I still can't guarantee that your kids will eat them; not for another 10 years at least!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts:

Ingredients:

• 1 package sprouts
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1T chopped red onion
• Coarse salt and freshly cracked pepper
• A shake of nutmeg
• Olive oil
• Aged balsamic vinegar

Preparation:

Start by trimming your sprouts.  If you cut off the ends, the stale leaves will almost automatically fall off by themselves.  Halve them and place in a large bowl.  Finely chop the onion and garlic and add that, along with the remaining ingredients and mix together.  Even though I have no exact measurements - you'll know how much you need - I will say that when you add your salt, go ahead and add a little extra, and then another shake on top of that.

Place in a roasting pan and cook in a 375F oven for about 30-40 minutes.  As soon as you start smelling a teensy bit of char and the leaves are dark, the sprouts are done.  Place in a serving bowl and add just a splash more balsamic for tartness.

Now you can go ahead and devour.