All I can say is, "Wow!" These weren't what I expected!! Super quick and easy to prepare and they tasted fantastic. Not what I expected for something with a name as long as "Choux de Bruxelles a la Creme." Another name that I have no idea how to pronounce, and my personal rules say I won't look it up on Google, but I do know this -- it is a delicious way to serve brussel sprouts. So, here's the story.
I've been out of town for awhile and haven't had a chance to be cooking anything from scratch (It is really hard to find fresh scratch when away from home. Hahahahaha. I reallllly crack me up some times.). While away, however, I did cook dinner for my baby sister (who's actually 15 years older than me), my nephew, my niece-in-law, and my grand-niece and they survived. They even seemed to enjoy it -- the menu included Gratin Savoyard, Flamiche - Gratin Aux Poireaux, and Vichyssoise soup -- and no one needed to run to the hospital after the meal so I'll take that as a good sign. I digress but I thought I should mention that I did actually cook some things from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." I definitely haven't mastered it yet but it is neat to be actually cooking some things for the second and third time simply because I've learned how to make them and we enjoy eating them.
Well, this way to prepare brussel sprouts is definitely one of those things I'll be making again. And again. And again. We've always enjoyed brussel sprouts but typically eat them either roasted, steamed, or with a cheese sauce. This method of making creamed brussel sprouts gave them a wonderfully mild flavor and completely eliminated the slightly bitter taste that brussel sprouts sometimes have. As far as my quest to work my way through Julia's cookbook goes, this was a great preparation since I actually used two recipes.
As with most of Julia's vegetable preparations, this one started off with a visit to the kitchen by my old fried Blanche. To be precise, with another name I can't really pronounce, I started off making "Choux de Bruxelles Blanchis." In other words, I blanched the brussel sprouts. Let me throw in an interesting side note lest you feel the need to correct my spelling. I'm having a bit of a spelling dilemma as I write this. You see, throughout all of Julia's recipes she spells this vegetable as "brussels sprouts." I"ve never used that third "s" when I spell it so I did refer to the all knowing and completely authoritative Google -- which always has it spelled as "brussel sprouts" without the extra "s." In order to save some "s" letters for other people who may be writing today, I have decided to stick with my traditional spelling. If you know the most proper way to spell this vegetable and would like to educate me, please let me know in a comment!
Back to cooking (which takes much less time than it is taking me to type this)... I filled my biggest pot with water, added some salt, and brought it to a rolling boil. Remember, when blanching it is best to use the largest amount of water possible so that it will return to a boil as quickly as possible when the vegetables are added. For this particular recipe the brussel sprouts were only blanched for for 5 minutes since they'll have some additional cooking time with the cream. As soon as the timer got to 5 minutes the sprouts were quickly drained in a colander (but not cooled with cold water). By the way, I really love how the color changes when they are blanched! As soon as they were drained, I quickly "roughly chopped" the blanched sprouts and was ready to move onto the next step.
3 tablespoons of butter were heated in the largest skillet I had. Oh, I forgot to mention, I was using a 2 pound bag of brussel sprouts for this dish. Julia said to use 1 1/2 quarts -- really? How am I supposed to use a liquid measurement to measure something that is sold by weight? As Elizabeth always says, "A pints a pound the world around." Sorry, didn't help. Neither did the handy little magnet chart I have on the refrigerator nor did the little conversion table in the front of Julia's book. My personal conversion that I just made up says a 2 lb bag of brussel sprouts is equal to 1 1/2 quarts -- must be, it worked in this recipe! Back to cooking...
The butter was heated over moderately high heat until it was bubbling and then all of the chopped brussel sprouts were added. I tossed them around for a couple of minutes to coat them with the butter but also, mainly, to remove some of the moisture. A little salt and pepper was added (to taste -- I used about 1/4 tsp of each) Then I poured in 3/4 of a cup of cream, covered the pan, and let it simmer on low for about 8 minutes until the cream was all absorbed into the brussel sprouts. Yes. Really. It was absorbed! Those lovely little chopped sprouts soaked up all of that cream, it didn't evaporate and it didn't hang around as a sauce. It was absorbed!!
Everything was taken off the heat and about 2 tablespoons of softened butter was "folded" in -- a lot like stirring but more gently. I tried folding cooked brussel sprouts but can never get a nice crisp edge like I do when folding sheets. Then everything was ready to be transferred into a serving dish. The photo shows how it turned out and it tasted better than it looks!
We probably would have been happy just eating this by itself but it really is intended as a side dish. Julia said it goes with many main dishes, including pork which is what my sous chefs (Elizabeth and Kathryn) were preparing for dinner. They made Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Lemony Potatoes and Zucchini and my brussel sprouts were an additional side dish. It was good. Really, it was good. I mean good as in "have seconds and third helpings" good. Even if you don't normally like brussel sprouts you should try this -- I'll be you become a fan. If you do try this, leave a comment and let me know if you think they're as good as we did.
Bon appetit!
At least four time with this version. Maybe more? One of my favorites for sure. Ask and you shall receive!
These are great. How many times have we made them since the first time. Kathryn even made them by herself one time.
I could eat these every day!