Roasted Brussels Sprout with Sweet Chili Sauce

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Roasted Brussels Sprout with Sweet Chili Sauce

Serves: 4

Difficulty: Easy

 

Roasted Brussels Sprout with Sweet Chili Sauce

Personally, I love Brussels sprouts –roasted. Like so many vegetables, roasting brings out the toasted sweeter flavor. Brussels sprouts might just be the rising stars of the vegetable patch. These once-reviled cruciferous vegetables – cousins to cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kale – are increasingly ubiquitous on restaurant menus and at farmers markets. The flavorless boiled version is now most likely to be served roasted, fried or even raw and shaved into a salad. Perhaps best of all, Brussels sprouts are nutritional powerhouses, loaded with vitamins, cholesterol-reducing fiber, folate and antioxidants. The addition of the Sweet Chili Sauce is a great thing, because the flavor combination of salty/sweet/savory/garlicky/sour PLUS the nuttiness from roasting will

make you forget the very first time your mom made you eat plain, soggy, bitter Brussels sprouts when you were a kid.

The star of the show!

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce can be found in most supermarkets (look in the Asian section). It's a sweet sauce perfect for dipping dumplings, egg rolls and adding to stir-fries. The sauce is more sweet than spicy (probably a spicy level of 3 out of 10) - even kids will love it. If you do not have fish sauce, use low sodium soy sauce.

The ingredients that make this recipe special (and easy)

• 1 pound Brussels sprouts, stem trimmed and halved
• 2 Tb vegetable or canola oil
• Salt and pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 2 tsp fish sauce, or soy sauce
• 3 Tb sweet chili sauce 

To clean your Brussels sprouts, rinse them off in cold water to remove any dust or dirt. Using a sharp small knife, take off the tip of the stem and discard. Remove any outer leaves with blemishes. Place the cut stem on your cutting board and slice the Brussels sprout in half from top to bottom.

Halved, trimmed brussel sprouts

Heat the oven to 400 degree F. Toss the halved Brussels sprouts in cooking oil to coat evenly, add salt and pepper to taste (remember fish and soy sauces are both salty), and place on baking sheet, cut side down. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, tossing them halfway so they cook evenly. Remove Brussels sprouts from the oven and turn on the oven broiler to high, with the oven rack positioned in the top third of the oven.

 

After roasting

In a small bowl, whisk together the minced garlic, fish sauce and sweet chili sauce. Pour over the roasted Brussels sprouts, tossing to coat evenly. Broil the Brussels sprouts for 5 minutes or until the sugar in the chili sauce is bubbling and caramelizing. Watch them carefully so they do not burn. Remove from the oven and serve.

Larue