Friday 2 March 2007

Jolly brussels sprouts in pumpkin puree

Colourful food does lighten the mood and vegetables do lighten a meal. So a hoorah to this summer-coloured lighten-everything dish. Brussels sprouts are still quite a new discovery for me and seem fun to cook with. As I was popping them into pumpking puree, I couldn't help feeling glad it was really food in the saucepan. Well, because...it did look really good.


The recipe was adapted from a cookbook, I made it for two people as a side dish to go with grilled chicken breasts. I substituted heavy cream with milk and didn't add onion (or else I could have put...well, a lot of onion in there. I did want it to be about pumpkin).


Brussels sprouts in pumpkin puree

100 g pumpkin, minced
1 tbsp butter
1 garlic clove, minced
salt, pepper
a bit of sugar
turmeric
1 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp mild mustard
140 g brussels sprouts

1. Melt butter in a saucepan and cook the pumpkin in it, covered.
2. Add garlic, season with salt, pepper, sugar and turmeric. Then add milk and cook, covered, for about 10-15 minutes.
3. Puree the mixture, add mustard and pour back into the saucepan.
4. Make crosswise cuts into the stem ends of the brussels sprouts (so that they cook through better) and add them to the puree. Cook at low heat for about 15 minutes.

I didn't really imagine how the flavours of pumpkin and brussels sprouts would match together before making this dish, but they really completed each other. The puree with its sweetness surrounded the slightly bitter brussels sprouts and when bitten, these flavours melted together. The textures were really harmonious and when eaten together with meat, the creamy pumpkin also took the place of sauce.

All in all, a really nice and uplifting side dish. Although, when my mother tried to serve some three remaining brussels sprouts to my father (she had left them for him to try), the jolly vegetables were sadly left onto the plate with only some pumpkin puree eaten from around them. But that's just dad.

4 comments:

Eli said...

For some reason brussel sprouts are becoming an in food in America, this looks like a fun way to have them. I'm impressed by your blog, lots of fun and good looking food.

Evelin said...

First of all, thank you.
I think brussels sprouts are getting more popular here in Estonia too. There is much new to discover for Estonian homecooks, our choice of food has never been so wide.

Mlle Fraisette said...

Quite funny,
here (that is in Belgium where Brussels is the capital, as you surely know) Brussels sprouts are one of the most disliked vegetables..especially by kids (and all the kids that grew up to be the nowadays adults)

ofcourse ... we do normally not serve them with pumpkin puree...

grtz,

An

ps: lovely blog (and from Estonia!! a country that is high on my list of countries-to-visit!)

Evelin said...

An, maybe it's just a subconscious rebellion against brussels sprouts? You know, like when you're told to do something, even if it's not something you wouldn't normally dislike, you just don't want to do it. Although...I'd eat tallinn sprouts if there were any:)

And if you ever come to Estonia, drop by and say hello!