Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Apples and Onions

^I

know, I know, I promised last week to leave Brussels sprouts alone for a while....But when I arrived at my daughter's house to help with Thanksgiving Dinner, I found a bag of sprouts waiting for my attention. Of course I didn't want to do the same thing I'd done with them last week!

This time, for a side to the turkey and trimmings of an American Thanksgiving dinner, I thought it would be nice to roast, rather than steam, the sprouts, and add in the hearty flavors of bacon, apple and onions and finish the dish with a balsamic vinegar/brown sugar/mustard glaze. The result was quite pleasing -- and it was the only dish we made that day that yielded no leftovers at the end of the dinner!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Apples and Onions, with Balsamic Glaze

1 lb Brussels sprouts
6 slices bacon
1 T mustard seeds
1 medium onion, peeled, cut in crescents
1 tart crisp apple (I used a Granny Smith), peeled, cored, cut in crescents
3 T brown sugar
2 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 C dry white wine
1 T Dijon mustard
olive oil
salt, hot sauce to taste

Trim the root ends of the sprouts, remove dried outer leaves and cut each sprout in half. Toss with a tablespoonful or so of olive oil and roast uncovered in a preheated 325º oven about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove when the sprouts are cooked through and starting to brown and char along the edges.

Meanwhile, in a pan large enough to contain all the ingredients, sauté the bacon until just starting to crisp at the edges and remove to drain on paper towel. Pour all but 1 T of the bacon grease from the pan and discard. Add the mustard seeds to the pan and stir over medium high heat until they start to pop. Add the onions and apples, lower the heat to medium and sauté , stirring occasionally, until starting to turn soft, about 5 or 6 minutes. Stir in the sugar, wine and vinegar, raise the heat to medium high and cook, stirring, several minutes until the liquid is reduced to a syrup. Remove from heat and stir in the mustard.

Chop the bacon and add it to the pan, then add the sprouts to the pan and stir and toss to combine. Correct seasoning. May be served immediately or at room temperature.

Note: to make ahead, slightly undercook the sprouts so they will finish cooking when reheated.

Comments

[Luisa]

My dad makes something similar to this on Thanksgiving usually, but frustratingly, rarely uses a recipe, so I'm thrilled to have this for my (more exacting) recipe files!

[beau]

Ahhhhh. The sprouts are back. I'm actually very curious to try one of your recipes. However, me wife has one mean case of the Anti-Brussel Sprouts. I think I might just go ahead and make this recipe without telling her about it.

[Dylan]

Stephen, which is better? steamed or roasted?

[jeanne]

I may need to 3000 miles to have a bit of an intervention with you...!

[Dawna]

Roasting is the *best* treatment for Brussels sprouts! I usually roast mine with a drizzle of rendered chicken fat, but bacon sounds delicious, too.

[christian]

Excellent, excellent!
Great dish, cant wait to make it again. Your cooking and pictures look fantastic. I live just south in Kittery and we are so lucky to have access to such great ingredients so close by! Thanks for the recipes and inspiration- your photos and stories are great..
We paired this with pomegranate roasted pork tendorloin with a pomegranate juice and seeds, red wine and cooking liquid syrup..

[Fran]

The brussels sprouts look delicious. I don't have any right now--but--do you think this would translate to being used with asparagus? Love your recipes.

[Sarah]

My daughter saw this when we were perusing your site and just about ripped my arm off in her glee. Her love of brussel sprouts is unhinged. Needless to say, we had to make it that day, although we did vary the cooking method to roasting everything together at once in the oven. It was so fantastic that we ended up each taking a container for lunch the next day. We plan on making it again when we visit my mother for Christmas.

[Heath]

These were AMAZING. I made them for a dinner party last night, and they were absolutely the star - perfect mix of sweet and savory, with a gorgeous depth of flavor!

[Betty]

I am preparing the brussels sprouts with bacon and vinegar with some sugar. My mother made these when I was a child, and we all love this method. I have a qustion: Can one steam the sprouts while on the large
stem? We were wondering if the flavor of the sprouts would be acidic if we left the sprouts as is without picking them off the stem.

My idea is (not for thanksgiving) to steam them in the dishwasher on a cloth towel, using the rinse cycle. Am I crazy?

[vm ram shur]

this dish was amazing... balance of sweet and tart-truly great! I am hooked on b.sprouts so this felt a dessert almost a sinfully delicous way to eat them...

[Pamela Cole Harris]

My! These sound wonderful! I can't wait to try them. I used to hate brussel sprouts when I was a child, but the older I get, the more I like them! This is definitely on the menu for tomorrow night! Thanks for the recipe!

[malolia jones]

the brussel sprout and bacon recipe is amazing!!! we love it cold and hot. thanks for sharing!

[Miles]

I found this recipe after googling for a recipe to sate a weird hankering for Brussel sprouts. AMAZING. Everyone loved them; I passed the recipe off to two people; and I'm making it again tonight. Thanks! (My mouth is watering thinking about them.)

[Jessica]

How many people or servings does this recipe produce? I am serving 15 people for Christmas, and I need to know how many people this recipe will serve (so I can adjust the amounts).

Thanks!!!

[Angelika]

Loved it - a bit more of the apple, even a few raisins wouldn't have hurt. Used port instead of white - thank you for a lovely recipe!