Any home cook who’s entertained has worried whether the menu would please all the guests. Just so this past weekend, when I served Brussels sprouts as part of a multicourse vegetarian meal.
Winter squash was part of the theme. Butternut and acorn squashes appeared in a chestnut soup garnished with sautéed chestnuts and mushrooms in a white-wine reduction, and again in ricotta-and-tofu-stuffed shells baked in a pumpkin sauce. What to serve alongside those hearty shells? Green beans amandine? Steamed broccoli? Brussels sprouts, with their slight bitterness and cruciferous crunch, contrast perfectly with squash’s smoothness and hint of sweetness; the orange-green color palette would be especially brightening on a drab, wintry evening. I’d roast them with a splash of balsamic and a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground pepper. I opted, with great hesitancy, to go for it, hoping that my guests would not have childhood flashbacks of eating soggy sprouts and make an early exit.
Au contraire. I instead received remarks like, “I just love Brussels sprouts!”
Maybe more cooks and chefs will take a chance and put Brussels sprouts on the menu. (No mush, mind you.) They might be surprised to find that people actually eat them. I know I was.
– Ligaya Figueras
This article appears in Jan 1-31, 2009.