Brussels Sprouts
Favorite Trader Joe’s Item #5: Brussels Sprouts
I never really had brussels sprouts until 4 years ago, when I ordered a chicken dish at Luna Park that had brussel sprouts & roasted butternut squash as a side. They were heavenly! It made me wonder why I had always heard such awful things about brussels sprouts. They seemed to be put on the disgusting list with things like tuna casserole (which i have yet to try). Ahh….It was love at first bite. I almost asked them for seconds! I knew had to recreate this at home! I tried some different concoctions and came up with this one.
Ingredients:
- 2 bags of TJ’s Brussels Sprouts
- 3/4 stick of butter (more if you are feeling frisky)
- 1 large yellow onion chopped (more or less depending on your love for onion)
- 3-5 tablespoons of brown sugar (this usually changes depending on how bitter the sprouts are)
- 2 cloves of garlic
Take sprouts out of their packaging. Soak in water & rinse. Cut the ends off all the sprouts & quarter the sprouts. Set aside. Place 1/2 stick of butter in a pan on medium heat. Stir in onions & garlic. Cook on medium until onions are translucent. Add sprouts & toss them in the butter/onion mixture. Let sit- stir occasionally. At this point, you are working on steaming them. When the sprouts are softened (about 10 minutes), add brown sugar & remaining butter. Turn the heat to high and brown the sprouts. The brown sugar & butter help caramelize them. Put the little beauties in a dish & serve.
This dish has the power to change someone into a Brussel Sprout Lover. You’ll see……
Closeup of Packaging:
A Perfect Dish for Thanksgiving:
Sink your fork into it:
Try them. You’ll love theses little babies:
***note: I used three small onions for the dish above- one large one will work out fine!***
November 5th, 2007 at 8:41 am
This looks delicious! Love your NaBloPoMo series - I’m a huge fan of Trader Joe’s, but so far all of your posts have been new items for me to look for.
I also expected Brussels Sprouts to be nasty the first time I tried them, but I instantly fell in love.
November 5th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
I LOVE Brussels sprouts! I’ll make them for Thanksgiving, for sure.
November 5th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
you even make sprouts a thing of beauty with your lovely pictures. Even tho I am a fellow lover of sprouts, this is no mean feat!
November 5th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
xsquared: thank you! I’m glad i have a fellow TJs & brussels sprouts fan ;)
anna: you should! you should make them for non-special occasions too. They are good with meatloaf & mashed potatoes….with roasted chicken…now im hungry
jeska: thank you! that made my day!
November 5th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
I’ve been craving brussel sprouts for the past week, and bought some today. Had intended to roast them with some lemon juice, but this sounds too tasty to pass up….yum!
November 5th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
P.S. Followed you here from Flickr, but am also doing NaBloPoMo, I’ll be back!
November 6th, 2007 at 7:54 am
thanks lelo! I’ll be checking on your website too!
November 10th, 2007 at 12:10 am
Oooh, I’ve only had brussels sprouts a few times, but this makes me want more!
November 10th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Hey Tracy, I did make them, and blogged about it too. What a delicious recipe, and a totally different way of making them than I have before. Thank you for posting about brussel sprouts!
November 14th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Whew! Sprouts with Brown Sugar, eh? THAT sounds TOO tempting NOT to try… I came here by linking from LELO’s page…and glad I did. I TOO had been wanting my first fall Sprouts, so I guess I’m off to get ‘em at the store. I’ll have to report back. You’ve created a fabulous blog site, THANK YOU so MUCH for sharing your wisdom and doing it so beautifully. **We’re in NW Portland.
November 15th, 2007 at 8:02 am
I love and adore brussel sprouts and this looks totally perfect. Obviously I need to go to Trader Joe’s after work.
November 15th, 2007 at 9:12 am
mark h: try it! thanks for you kind words! send me some pics of your sprouts!
c: yes, you do need to go!
November 19th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
I was googling food cravings and found this post AS I sit here eating plain brussel sprouts with some sharp cheddar cheese on top. Mmmmmm.
I’m 8 weeks preggers so I’ve been having some odd cravings, but honestly I have always loved brussel sprouts, so I was not surprised that I got a mad craving for them today.
I can’t wait to try this recipe, I had never noticed these at TJs before!
March 25th, 2008 at 1:09 am
I found your site via Google while searching for chicken casserole and your post regarding Brussels Sprouts looks very interesting to me.