Food From My Friend/Family Favorite: Kim Chee Brussels Sprouts

So life has been pretty sucky recently. The effects of staying at home and not having my usual activities to recharge my batteries are taking their toll. I know I am fortunate in so many ways and I continue to feel blessed but the reality is, I'm not in a great mental space. I started this blog to keep my brain busy and occupied but looking for new recipes to try has gotten complicated; I find that I only want to make comfort food and that often results in a lot of carbs and sweets. So, I am revamping things. I will still quest for new things to make but I will also share my tried and true dishes that I often make for my family's meals.

Here's one from my pal, Marlyn. We've been friends since the 7th grade and we started our barbershop journey together. We've been in quartets together, many performances and she's been my director twice! My youngest son is named for her husband Tom and when she showed me an ultrasound picture as her way of telling me that she was expecting her first child, I bawled like a 5-year old. In Zippy's. One of the things I miss most is our monthly "Lava Flow" nights where we meet for dinner and a cocktail. We've been doing it virtually every Wednesday but you can't beat a good ol' face to face! Hoping that will be sometime soon. In the meanwhile...

Here's today's cast!

Trim the Brussels sprouts and slice them in half. The recipe calls for thinly sliced shallot but I used onions instead.

Fresh ginger is one of the best smelling things in the world. Slice them thin and add them to the onions and sprouts.

Add olive oil, Kosher salt and some freshly ground pepper and give it a good toss.

In the meantime, a large rimmed pan was heating at 500F.

The sprout mixture was spread out onto the heated pan and the whole thing went back in for about 20 minutes.

I drained about a cup of kim chee, gave it a chop and tossed it into the same bowl the sprouts were in.

The sauce is very simple--honey, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce and a few dried red pepper flakes.

Toss the kim chee sauce with the roasted sprouts mixture and this is where you would add some chopped mint. I didn't have any but the mint is definitely a winner on this. If you have it, use it.

Since it's a family favorite, you know the turtle rating will always be a 5!

Here's the recipe:

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Kimchi and Ginger

Marlyn Hutton (November 2019)

Ingredients

1-1/2 lbs. Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut in half

2 shallots, thinly sliced

2” knob of ginger, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks

3 T. olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 c. drained kimchi, roughly chopped

1 T. honey

1 T. rice wine vinegar

1 T. Asian fish sauce

¼ c. chopped fresh mint leaves

Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions

1.     Adjust oven rack to upper position, place a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet on it and preheat oven to 500°F.

2.     In a large bowl, toss sprouts, shallots, and ginger with olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove baking sheet from oven and add sprout mixture. Shake pan to distribute evenly. Return to oven and roast until sprouts are tender and deeply browned and shallots and ginger are starting to char, about 20 minutes, rotating pan halfway through cooking.

3.     Meanwhile, add kimchi, honey, vinegar, fish sauce and pepper flakes, if using, to now-empty bowl. When sprouts are roasted, add to bowl and toss to combine. Season to taste with more salt and pepper if necessary. Toss with mint and serve while warm.