Countdown to Turkey Day: Brown Sugar Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Last week, a group house near me hosted a week-before-Thanksgiving-Thanksgiving potluck dinner. It was amazing! I think nearly 100 people were in the house. For the potluck, I brought brussels sprouts.

Like many, many others, I hated brussels sprouts growing up. They were always kind of bitter, the texture was slimy due to over-boiling, and the fact that brussels sprouts look like cabbages, which I also was not a fan of, didn't help things.

Last week at my local farmer's market, however, they were selling brussels sprouts on the stalk. They looked amazing. I plucked up my courage, said goodbye to past bad experiences with these mini-cabbages, and bought a stalk.

Here's what I came up with the day of the potluck. Perhaps I like it because the bitterness of the sprouts is counteracted by the sweetness of the sugar or the creaminess of the butter.

BROWN SUGAR ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS

Ingredients:
1 stalk brussels sprouts (approximately 30 sprouts)
1 stick butter (approximately 1/2 cup, softened and divided in half)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, unpacked
1/4 cup evaporated milk (fat free is fine)

Directions:
Cut brussels sprouts off of the stalk.


Cut each brussels sprout in half.
Place sprouts on greased baking sheet, cut side up and side-by-side so they are touching.
Cut 1/2 stick butter into thin slices (approximately 1/3 of tbsp per slice).
Place each pad of butter on a group of 4 brussels sprouts halves.


Bake at 350*F for 25 minutes, flipping sprouts halfway.


On the stove, melt 1/2 stick butter.
Add brown sugar and evaporated milk.
Stir until sauce begins to thicken. DO NOT ALLOW IT TO THICKEN.
Pull sprouts out of oven, toss with brown sugar sauce.
Enjoy!

Butter makes life better

That is the truth.

Last week, I clipped my plants to prepare for the winter. Rachna and Olivia, my rosemary and oregano plants, will (hopefully!) overwinter, so their fruits are currently drying out. Brian, my basil plant, should die out in the winter but everyday I'm seeing new shoots erupt from him. Finally, Shakuntala, my chili pepper plant, had an off year and decided to grow big, beautiful leaves...but no chilies.

After clipping, I only had a few basil leaves - mostly thanks to a summer filled with pesto - so I decided to use them all at once. This decision - combined with my love of garlic bread - resulted in this creation.

Are you ready? Because it's good. Really, really good.

Here we go!

ROASTED GARLIC & BASIL BUTTER

Smear it on some bread. Saute some veggies in it. Add it to savory baked goods.

The best part about this is that it's so easy! Roast a couple of garlic cloves (remove the peel, cover in 1 tsp olive oil, stick in your oven at 350 for 20 minutes or so), chop some basil, throw these into a softened stick of butter, mash together, refrigerate until it gets firm, and serve!

DisCo Inferno: Curbside Cupcakes

DC has seen growth in mobile food vendors over the last few months. First up was Capitol Carts, an initiative of DC Central Kitchen. Next to hit the streets was Fojol Bros, a somewhat-controversial-but-I-am-assured-quality Indian food truck. Now we have that ever-favorite hipster/stuff-white-people-like item, the cupcake, traveling to a site near you courtesy of Curbside Cupcakes.

For the record, I haven't eaten there yet. As many of you know, I am die-hard advocate of Baked and Wired. I've sampled many a cupcake joint in the DisCo, including Hello Cupcake!, Georgetown Cupcake, Red Velvet, and CakeLove. The funky, friendly staff at Baked and Wired stole my heart nearly as quickly as the Pretty Bitchin' cupcake, which boasts a thick layer of peanut butter frosting on top of a rich chocolate cupcake.

I'm skeptical as to whether Curbside Cupcakes will produce a more enjoyable experience than Baked and Wired. Only time will tell, I guess.

The last (healthy) pumpkin cake you will ever eat.

This one is good.

You ready?


Welcome to whole grain pumpkin pudding cake. It pairs wonderfully with spiced tea and buckwheat honey (the latter being a recent discovery! it is amazing - darker and slightly smoker than regular honey). My friend and I helped ourselves to the cake not even two seconds after it left the oven.

Ingredients:
1 banana
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin pudding (recipe below)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves

Directions:
1. Combine banana, applesauce, pumpkin pudding, and eggs together until just blended.
2. Mix together brown sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
3. Gently blend the flour mixture with the wet ingredients until just mixed.
4. Pour cake mix into a greased 8x8 cake pan.
5. Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes
6. Top with whipped cream and enjoy.

How to make pumpkin pudding:

Blend the following together and stick in the fridge to set:

1 large box of instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 the amount of milk stipulated on the pudding mix box
1 tsp cinnamon

DC Foodies: Free Burgers

News courtesy of DCist.

Enjoy ♥

A Colorful Party in Black and White

Tonight, I attended a fantastic baking party. The conversation centered mostly around food: a cookbook called Fat, the intricacies of experimental baking, and the crazy Western obsession with losing weight. Here's a peek at what we were up to:

Our gracious hosts and their friend. Thanks for sharing your space, laughter, time, and talent!

(L-R): orange maple butter, gingerbread muffins, and chocolate raspberry mini tarts

A close-up of the chocolate raspberry tart(lette). Topped with whipped cream.

Very tasty graham cracker and chocolate bars rolled in sugar. Imagine the forbidden love child of the s'more and the seven-layer bar.

Finally, my contribution of pumpkin banana bread with brown sugar icing. Recipe will be posted soon!

Eat this!

A good friend of mine recently passed the Foreign Service Exam (WTG SJH!). After he completed the exam, we met for brunch at Le Pain Quotidien, a Belgian chain restaurant that has recently meandered to the District.

LPQ has some absolutely delicious offerings. My personal favorite beverage there is the Belgian hot chocolate. It is composed of two parts. First, a steaming bowl of milk is given to you. Shortly after, the drinker receives a small pitcher of melted, fragrant dark cocoa. If you could put heaven into a cup, this would be darn close to the result. It is rich. It is creamy. It is chocolate.

Another Kabana-approved item on LPQ's menu is the ricotta cheese tartine. Complete with figs, acacia honey, and freshly ground pepper, this open-faced sandwich incorporates smooth, sweet, and spicy tastes on your palette. Yum!

At this brunch, though, I chose one of LPQ's seasonal specials, the Harvest Porridge. I expected something healthy-tasting. Instead, I got something amazing. It's so tasty, in fact, that in the mornings on the way to work, I often have to restrain myself from not veering toward my neighborhood LPQ.

So here it is, this harvest porridge. First ingredient: Farro. Farro is an Italian grain similar to barley, just fluffier and a little nuttier in taste. Farro puffs up nicely in this dish.

#2: almond milk: sweeter than regular cow's milk when heated. Mmmmm...

Tres y cuatro: walnuts & pecans. In other words, some delicious omega-3-fatty-acids to fight depression and to improve mental acuity.

Five and six: dried cranberries and strawberries - the sweetness.

So that's it. Head to your closest LPQ. Dig into that Harvest Porridge with a big spoon and don't look back.

(Hard to resist, isn't it?)