Here’s a lovely way to pimp up Brussel sprouts!
This recipe is from Yotam Ottolenghi. However, in my usual style, I have changed a few things, such as used home-roasted fresh chestnuts instead of pumpkin seeds and yogurt-tahini dressing instead of just plain tahini.
Fermented, or aged, black garlic is a real delicacy and a powerhouse of nutrition! Garlic is fermented over several weeks/months, enhancing the bioactivity of its many beneficial antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial compounds. One of these compounds is a sulphurous compound called s-allylcysteine, which is a potent antioxidant that can effectively scavenge free radicals and has been shown to be more active than the same compound in fresh garlic. This compound is stable and highly bioavailable in the body.
The garlic mellows during the aging process so the taste is very different than that of fresh garlic. It can be eaten as is (I love popping a clove into my mouth like a sweet!) or you can cook with it. The taste reminds me of liquorice, molasses or really well aged balsamic vinegar.
Check out your local supermarket or health food shop as many now stock black garlic or you can also order online.
INGREDIENTS
(serves 3-4 as a side)
400 g Brussels sprouts
1 tbsp of coconut oil, ghee, avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt
3/4 tsp caraway seeds
Pinch of sea salt
A small handful of chopped herbs, such as thyme, rosemary, tarragon or parsley
3-5 cloves of black garlic
A knob of butter
1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
5 home-roasted chestnuts (or ready cooked from a vacuum pack), crushed/chopped into smaller pieces
For the dressing:
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp full-fat plain yogurt/coconut yogurt
A good spritz of lemon juice
METHOD
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C and put a rimmed tray in the oven with your preferred fat.
- Trim and cut the sprouts in half.
- Take the tray out of the oven and add the sprouts. Season.
- Bake for around 20 minutes until softened but still with a bite (or longer if you prefer softer sprouts). Take out and set aside.
- While the sprouts are roasting, make the dressing by whisking tahini, yogurt and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Add some warm water if it’s too thick to make it more runny.
- Chop the herb you are using and add it to a pestle and mortar with the caraway seeds and a pinch of sea salt. Roughly crush these, then add the garlic cloves and mix to make a paste.
- Heat the butter and olive oil in a frying pan, let this froth for a few minutes and then stir in the black garlic paste.
- Add the sprouts into the pan with chestnuts, mix and warm everything through for a couple of minutes.
- To serve, tip into a bowl and drizzle over the tahini-yogurt dressing.
Cover photo by Cyrus Crossan on Unsplash
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