Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

@lemonfair - I'm so sorry I didn't check back here after posting. Forgive me.

Yes, install anything from that site. Malware Bytes is completely reliable, and a real life-saver. I hope by now that you've got it all under control, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to have the site I recommended installed on your computer and run it regularly.

Again, I'm sorry for not staying current, but I hope all is well for you now.

I never cared much for brussels sprouts until later in life. They ain't strawberry shortcake but I can tolerate them. I think my palate was tainted by some poorly prepared sprouts in the past because I cooked up some fresh ones with just butter and salt for my wife and they surprisingly good -still not strawberry shortcake. Last Thanksgiving I made a sort of slaw out of brussels sprouts from a recipe in Bon Appetit magazine. They were a hit.

So I guess I'll try a couple of the recipes above and see how they fly. The cheese and bacon gratin sounds good.

We stew it with a chunked up kielbasa, sliced onion and chicken stock, and a pinch of hot pepper flakes. Then serve it over a boxed red beans and rice mix...usually Zahtarans...it is so good and a easy weeknight meal.

I like them blanched, cut in half, and stir-fried with ginger, garlic, and a final seasoning mixture of sherry, soy sauce, corn startch, sugar, salt, and rice wine vinegar, which is a common mixture for stir-fried veggies. If you know how to wok, you know to heat about 1-2 TBLSP of peanut oil until smoking, add the minced ginger and garlic, cook until browned, and then add the blanched and drained brussel sprouts, stir-fry until they soften, and then stir in the final seasoning mixture. Sorry I don't have the measurements with me, but I think it is 1 tsp each of sugar, sherry, vinegar, salt, 1 TBLSP of corn startch and 2 TBLSP of soy sauce. Great dish!

@green...

First-pressed... aka, extra virgin olive oil is not necessarily the best for every method of preparation. It's good in salads and raw appetizers or as a last minute addition to liven up a dish. You should never saute or cook with extra virgin olive oil... especially over high heat since the smoke point is relatively low. All you will be left with is a burnt taste devoid of any flavor that you expect from high cost evoo.

Favorite fall weekend breakfast: Brussel sprout hash with bacon & potatoes and a poached egg sitting on top. Outrageous!

Two of my favorites:

Sliced Brussels Saute'
Onions, Shiitake Mushrooms, and Brussels Sprouts Julienned and sauteed in Butter

And

Crispy Roast Brussels Sprouts:
Trim and Halve sprouts. Coat in Olive Oil, Salt, and Pepper. Arrange face down on baking sheet. Bake at 350 till Sprouts begin to brown. Eat as a side dish... or pop 'em like popcorn!

I had the best brussel sprouts I've ever had in my entire life recently at the new DBGB in NYC. They were far from healthy though but full on flavor.

I remember the first time I had brussels sprouts. My aunt made them and I think she just boiled them and then tossed with butter and salt. She wasnt much of a cook. I dont remember anything else she ever cooked except the sickly sweet sweet potato casserole she made every year. But anyway I was hooked from the first bite. I looked over at my dad and said "why dont we ever have these?" he looked so confused!

Now my fiance is simply addicted to them. I wanted to try and grow some. But I think I planted the seeds too late. Oh well. Now that they're in season, we'll probably be eating them all the time. Our favorite way is set in a pan with olive oil cut side down. We pour a little water in the pan and cover it until the water is gone, much like you would cook potstickers. We finish them with a little balsamic and parmesan or romano.

Another way I like to prepare them is in a green bean casserole. I just substitute quartered brussels sprouts for half of the green beans. Delish.

I on the other hand grew up w/a New England cook of a mother who cooked Brussel Sprouts until they were yellow, told us they were good for us and made us eat them, they were bitter, hard and I grew up really disliking them.

Then I bought a stalk a couple of years ago at my local farmer's market,because it looked so funny and I was intrigued. I went home, cut them off and cooked them that night and fell in love with them, they were a totally different vegetable. I parboiled them, shocked them and sauteed them, added some bacon, They were incredibly sweet, almost sugary and soft.

I have some sitting in a bag in my kitchen now, and will try Dan Barber's recipe with the balsamic glaze, sounds yummy!!!!

My favorite preparation for them is to dice up some bacon, fry it in a cast iron frying pan until it's about half-done, and remove most of the fat, as well as the bacon. Then I toss my cleaned, halved sprouts in the pan with a tiny bit of butter, and fry them until they start to brown. Then I put the bacon back in, mix it up, roast it for about 10 to 15 minutes until they're fork-tender, pull them out, and pour in a little cream and some garlic powder. Then I reduce it until it's just barely coated by the cream and it becomes something wicked and decadent and delicious. (I made this one up after having them at the Red Star Tavern in Portland Oregon. The chicken was good. The sprouts were so amazing that I finished those instead of the chicken!)

I have always loved brussles sprouts and always finished them at the table, stingily keeping the bowl of them near me throughout the meal. I actually only learned about a year ago that they were in the same kid-hated category as spinach and broccoli. I don't know where I was when I was a kid, but I had totally missed that I wasn't supposed to like it!