Brussels Sprouts with Pork Belly and Blue Cheese Tweetcipe

It’s officially Fall and after the brutal summer in Austin, I’m relieved to feel the cooler weather. Local garden vegetables didn’t produce in the heat and drought of the summer, but now the cooler nights and days are encouraging what are traditionally summer plants to finally put on tomatoes, okra, and squash. Along with these I am seeing the fall vegetables such as Brussels sprouts and lettuces in my CSA basket and at the grocery store.

I chose Brussels sprouts as the focus of this month’s tweetcipe. They look like baby cabbages and are a good source of Vitamins A and C, folic acid, fiber, potassium and iron. They are not a popular green vegetable, at least not in Texas, but if you try my recipe, you may want to eat them more often!

Brussels Sprouts with Pork Belly and Blue Cheese

Serves 4

1 lb of small Brussels sprouts (the smaller they are, the sweeter they are)
1 T olive oil
salt/pepper
1/3 lb pork belly, bacon or pancetta, diced small
4 oz blue cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bring salted water to a boil in a large saucepan. Trim the sprouts by cutting off the browned stem end and then cut the sprouts in half. Add sprouts to the water, turn down heat to gently boil for 3 minutes. Pour olive oil in an oven proof dish. Using a slotted spoon, drop the sprouts in the dish with the olive oil then salt and pepper to taste. Stir well and place in oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, sauté pork belly, bacon or pancetta on the oven until brown and crispy. I like to use pork belly and add smoked salt and pepper. Drain pork. Check the doneness of the sprouts by poking a fork in the stem end. Don’t over cook! Place hot sprouts in a bowl with the cooked pork and blue cheese and gently stir. Serve warm.