Sprouts....

[berri]

Any tried & tested recipes to make them a bit more....nice?

Mine is very simple, but effective! Cook them so that they're very nearly cooked - tender but still firm when you poke one with a sharp knife. Heat up a bit of olive oil and crushed garlic (number of cloves optional, but very garlicky is good!) and then stir the drained sprouts in the garlic oil - yummy!

Sounds lovely - thanks v much!

So basically you get them to taste of garlic rather than sprout?

But in that case why have them in the first place instead of nice green veg

No grimma they taste like garlicky sprouts! And I like them without garlic too, so they already fall into my category of nice green veg... But the garlic definitely makes them more palatable to those who aren't generally that keen on sprouts!

my mom fries breadcrumbs and cinnamon with a lot of butter until crunchy and then sprinkles it over the sprouts.

I steam mine for a bit, then cut into quarters and stir fry with pancetta or bacon cut up and some chestnuts (I buy the preprepared ones in vacuum packs). Splash of soy sauce also nice. In fact whenever I cook this I always think it is yummy and wonder why I don't do it more than once a year....

Boil, drain then stirfry with green/yellow/red peppers and some chopped vacuum packef chestnuts

If you buy yr. sprouts on their STAlK they taste (unless you overcook to buggery) FAB honest!! Keep somewhere cool in a vase of water like flowers.

I did mean STALK!!

If people don't like sprouts then they're not going to like them dressed up in anything either, surely? I thought it was a chemical reaction thing?

Yeah bertie they get sulphurous when they're OLD (not on the stalk) it's true. Someone back me up here!!

But I like them even if they are old...

It takes all sorts Bertie!! I never even knew they grew on a stalk!

I made south indian style sprout curry the other day and was lush! (tempered mustard seeds, chilli, curry leaves, cashews, turmeric added halved sprouts with a splash of water, lid on to steam for a bit, lid off for water to evaporate/then fry, salt + dessicated coconut)

OK, so maybe not with Xmas dinner, but lovely with rice and dhal on the side! (well being of Indian extraction I pride myself on being able to turn anything into a curry!)

I used to fry em with bacon and chestnuts. But even so, have been voted off the festive menu last couple of years- no point if only 2 people will eat them

Shred them finely then stir fry with some shallot and pancetta. Chuck in a bog splash of white wine then stir in a little double cream just before they are ready. Season well.

Or

Shred finely, fry in butter for a couple of minutes with a clove of garlic. Add a carton of double cream, cover and simmer very gently for 1/2 an hour. Stir in a splash of lemon juice and season well.

Slice finely then stir fry with pine nuts. Very nice and have converted at least one person this way.

Boil until tender in well-salted water, then melt lots of butter on them.

Delicious.