Whether you love them or hate them - or even love to hate them - brussel sprouts are a Christmas dinner table staple.
But the green, slightly smelly veg, can have a bland flavour when cooked alone and they can lack some much-needed lustre.
Inject some life into your sprouts with these tasty recipe ideas - find dishes cooked with pancetta, cranberry sauce and even a crumble twist.
Pan-fried sprouts with diced pancetta
Ingredients:
140g bacon lardons
2 tbsp light olive oil
2 kg sprouts, trimmed and halved
3 tbsp cranberry sauce
Method:
- Heat a large non-stick frying pan and add the pancetta. Dry-fry for 10 minutes, stirring frequently until crispy. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Add the oil to the pan with the halved sprouts and season. Stir-fry over a medium high heat for 7-8 minutes, stir in the cranberry sauce and cook until it melts and coats the sprouts evenly.
Spoon into a warmed serving dish and scatter with the cooked diced pancetta.
Roasted brussel sprouts with bacon
Ingredients:
8 onions halved from a jar of Haywards Strong & Zingy Traditional Onions
600g sprouts
150g smoked bacon lardons
150g cooked chestnuts, roughly chopped
Method
- Cook the bacon lardons in a dry non-stick frying pan over a low heat and cook for 7-10 minutes until their fat has melted and they are golden. Lift the lardons out of the pan and drain on kitchen roll.
- Raise the heat to medium, add the onions to the bacon fat remaining in the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes until just starting to colour.
- Meanwhile put a large pan of water on to boil. Add the sprouts and cook for 3 minutes then drain. Add the sprouts to the frying pan with the onions, cooked bacon lardons and chestnuts. Cook for 2-3 minutes to heat through, then serve.
Ingredients:
600g sprouts
30g salted butter
30g Specially Selected Parmigiano cheese
50g plain flour
3g fresh thyme – chopped
1 tsp Stonemills paprika
2 cloves garlic – peeled and minced
Sea salt and black pepper
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.
- Trim and wash the sprouts.
- Cook in some salted boiling water for 3 minutes – drain well.
- Grate the Parmigiano cheese and the butter.
- Add the butter, cheese, thyme, garlic and the flour together, season with some black pepper and the paprika – rub the mixture together with your fingers.
- Put the sprouts into an oven proof dish – sprinkle over the crumble and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.