The Great International City Swap, Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and a Meme

I've signed up to be a participant in the 2nd Annual Great International City Swap hosted by At Home in Rome. The premise is that you send a package to your assigned person that best represents you and the city in which you live. I have been assigned Ms. Kitten, and Lulu's Laundry will be sending a package to me. This should be fun!

This weekend I got my hands on an absolutely gigantic bag of brussels sprouts from another farmer's market stand. $2 for the whole bag! I couldn't resist. I've never, ever made them from fresh before... in fact, I've only ever steamed them from the frozen bag/box and tossed with butter and salt before eating. Truth be told, I don't like them all that well. I mean, they're okay... and I choose to eat them for the health benefits.

I decided to combine my brussels sprouts with my favorite kind of grease--bacon! Yes, indeed!


Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
serves 8

three pounds fresh brussels sprouts, washed, trimmed and sliced
1 pound bacon
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup milk or cream
salt and pepper, to taste

In a very large saucepan, cook bacon over a medium flame; set aside, reserving rendered grease. (Okay, if you really want to make this less horrible-for-you, pour off most of the grease and replace with a good three tablespoons olive oil.)

Fry onion in bacon grease until starting to brown, then add prepared brussels sprouts. Every few minutes turn your sprouts. When they look like they're starting to wilt, add chicken stock and cover with a lid or foil. Let cook for about 30 minutes, checking and turning every 10 minutes or so. Remove lid/foil and add milk and finish braising carefully, until sprouts are really well done. I had almost no liquid left when mine were finished cooking. Remove from heat and top with crumbled reserved bacon.

Well they still taste like brussels sprouts, but much better than the frozen ones, and of course the addition of bacon helped them tremendously. Braising in cream also helped to balance the bitterness of the sprout with a little sweetness. So now I have this mountain of sprouts that I've been eating, little by little, for meals while Mr.W is away. It's actually quite good re-fried in a little oil and topped with a soft-cooked egg, for breakfast, lunch, or supper! (Or, in my case, all three.)


To finish today's post, I'm in the mood for another random-ish meme... self-inflicted, of course:

1. What picture is featured on your computer's wallpaper? It's a pic from Shrek 3, showing just the very top of Shrek's head wearing a wee little crown.

2. Name some of the cities you've lived:
- currently in Central NY... in the city where I was born
- South Korea
- Atlanta, GA
- Key West, FL

3. Name some of the places you've travelled:
- Seaside Heights, NJ
- Tampa, FL
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Washington, DC
- Baton Rouge, LA
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Geneva, Switzerland

4. What is your top pet peeve? Misspellings on public billboards/restaurant menus/store signs.

5. What are your three top favorite stores? Cost Plus World Market in Atlanta's Buckhead district, Target anywhere, and the street markets at South Gate in South Korea.

6. Favorite pizza toppings? I love a pizza topped only with sauce, cheese, mushrooms and green/red bell peppers. Mmm...

7. How many computers do you have in your home? Three working computers: one desktop in the office, one laptop that moves around usually between the living and dining rooms, and another desktop that is in a box in a closet. There are more computer bits & pieces in the basement Mr.W has been collecting for some future project to be determined...

8. If you could eat at any restaurant right now, where would it be? Mmm, right now I would enjoy lunch at Queen of Sheba in Atlanta... or a boxed take-out lunch from a delish little Jamaican shop in Hiram, GA. Yum, yum, yum!

9. What one household item do you keep in multiple rooms of the house? Scissors. I must have scissors. In the bathroom, in the office, in the kitchen. If I can't find scissors, I freak out just a little bit.

10. Do you prefer listening to the radio, cds, or mp3s? Hmm... interesting. Well, I keep a christian radio station on all the time either very softly or turned up, depending on my mood and what I'm doing. I have a pretty large collection of music loaded onto itunes on my laptop, and often listen directly from the laptop instead of getting out my ipod. I only listen to the ipod when I'm out-and-about.


Well... I'm sure you all really wanted to know all of that.