Wily Antrim County farmers have extended the growing season with hoop houses and careful planning. Still, a person committed to eating local foods at this time of year will have to eat a lot of apples, winter squash, honey . . . hmm. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it! And then there are the apricots we canned last summer. The cherry juice. Sonny’s sausages. All the food put by against this fallow season.
But I long for something fresh and green to eat. The Brussels sprout comes into its own. Euw! I hear you say. Oh just try one. Here’s some nice rice to go with it, and a bit of braised beef.
Last night that was my homework (Scott Thomas’s food photography assignment) and my supper. I thought of my friend Carol Park. She appreciates a good Brussels sprout too.
Now it’s nearly 4:00 am. The Cowboy woke me up because he was feeling insecure. I got up because I’m obsessing about whether the well line will freeze. (So far so good.) I’m up anyway, I might as well cobble together the post. I had a cookie too. Just one.
Torch Lake Views 
flandrumhill
January 25, 2011
Brussel sprouts are awesome with butter and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Yours appear perfectly glossed and mouth-watering.
I bought an acorn squash the other day and was aghast when I got home to find out it came all the way from Mexico. Why was that necessary? I thought they kept for months in cold storage. Maybe we don’t grow enough of them here for year-round consumption.
Gerry
January 25, 2011
A fellow sprout fan! And squash, too. Mine are keeping well, although I did have one dry out too much to use. Maybe the secret is to make your own cold storage and stock up in late fall!
kiwidutch
January 25, 2011
We LOVE sprouts and have lots of different recipes for them too, so no “ew” here, just “hmmm THAT looks YUMMY!”. Let’s start a “Brussels Sprouts Appreciation Society” shall we?
I also learned a new phrase on your blog: “hoop houses” (which if I think I have guessed correctly, I am more familiar with as “poly tunnels”
Great photos, well done! (and don’t you wish that homework had always been like this LOL?)
Gerry
January 25, 2011
And another sprout fan! Yes, hoop houses=poly tunnels, and they work really well as long as they do not collapse under the assault of a vicious windstorm or piles and piles of snow. I’m glad you enjoyed the post. I’m glad you dropped by, too. Now I have a blog to visit in the Netherlands–by a peregrinating Kiwi foodie yet. I like it.
Fee
January 25, 2011
Aaaah, the humble sprout. Or ‘those green lumps of evil’ as Himself usually calls them. There’s no accounting for taste, I suppose. I like sprouts. There. I said it. I like most vegetables, except fennel, for which I have a deep, deep loathing.
I’ve always thought that sprouts are the Marmite of the vegetable world – you love them or hate them. I hate Marmite, by the way, but Himself loves it on a ‘piece’ (sandwich).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmite
Gerry
January 25, 2011
Ah, Fee, you rascal. I might have known you’d turn out to be a sprout fan too. And we have more Scottish lessons. And Marmite. On the one hand, anything that is made from a byproduct of brewing can’t be all bad, can it? On the other hand . . . well, it looks pretty nasty, truth be told. Still, I’d try it if they still put it in one of those cunning earthenware pots.
margie
January 25, 2011
When I was a kid I had a very pretty book of Peter Rabbit, with exquisite illustrations. And my dad let me plant my own garden. It was probably because of Peter Rabbit & my own garden that I’ve always loved veggies. Had brussels sprouts for dinner last night and if there were leftovers, I’d have them for breakfast.
Gerry
January 25, 2011
Probably why you turned out to be a painter with a passion for making portraits of produce! Also cupcakes, but that’s another post entirely. Amazing, the quantities of sprout fans who are showing up this morning. It probably means something, but I’m not sure it bears much thinking about on too little sleep.
P.j. grath
January 25, 2011
Your B-sprouts are gorgeous, Gerry! Steamed just enough, I can tell. I also like to oven-roast them with chunks of root vegetables and bright pepper pieces, all tossed with olive oil, and there’s a recipe in the MAYO CLINIC WILLIAMS-SONOMA COOKBOOK for Brussel sprouts with chestnuts that looks delicious. Good work for 4 a.m., pal!
Gerry
January 25, 2011
I thank you, but I assure you that the meal and the photos were from last night when I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Sprouts with chestnuts sounds good.
katherine
January 25, 2011
2 Brussels sprouts fans here!!! I love your photos of them too.
Gerry
January 25, 2011
Thank you, Katherine. We have two Brussels sprouts fans here, too–the Cowboy is fond of them. Miss Sadie not so much, and Miss Puss is an all-out carnivore.
isathreadsoflife
January 25, 2011
Delicious green looking cookies ! Soft and tasty, I can tell. I suppose these are the ones you ate last night ? 😉 I am a fan of the Choux de Bruxelles too and I love your presentation.
Gerry
January 25, 2011
Thank you, Isa. Now, see, this is how the French-speaking world developed such a reputation for excellent treats. Not Brussels sprouts but Choux de Bruxelles . . . Well, that and really good cooking skills.
Dawn
January 25, 2011
I have lived my entire adult life thinking I hated brussel sprouts. Then this Christmas I happened upon a roasting recipe for them…and voila! I LOVE brussel sprouts! 🙂 Your photos look great. I had not such an excellent adventure trying to photograph food…I’ll be posting it sometime tonight.
Only one cookie? Why not two? 🙂
Gerry
January 25, 2011
Overdone Brussels sprouts have put generations of children off green food entirely. But perfectly steamed or roasted Choux de Bruxelles . . . that’s another thing entirely. A great many strongly flavored vegetables can be improved by roasting, at least at the hands of Rob the Firefighter and the Lady Alicia. At my hands, not so much. I look forward to seeing what you did with the food assignment.
Just one cookie. Remember, I ate all those Premier White Morsels.
Kathy
January 25, 2011
I am amazed you were up at 4 a.m., too! We should have called one another and shared our sleep challenges. We are still eating carrots and onions from last summer’s garden. They are getting rather challenging, too. But we shall eat them. We shall.
Gerry
January 25, 2011
It is entirely possible that there was a Catastrophic Time Failure over Michigan at 4 a.m.
I recommend the addition of Choux de Bruxelles to the carrots and onions. They will be green, and delicious, and, well, French! I don’t see how you can go wrong.
Karma
January 25, 2011
You know, I’ve never actually eaten a Brussel sprout. Always just assumed they were yucky. I generally like veggies, but prefer most of them raw, as a rule, including spinach. My sister, who is an even more adventurous eater than I, and eats virtually all veggies, refuses the sprout of Brussel. She’s tried it more than once, been cajoled into trying a recipe that promises for them to be wonderful and still not liked it.
Gerry
January 26, 2011
OK, so we’ll count that as two in the Euw! column. As long as you’re eating your spinach you are excused from the noble sprout. Leaves more for me.
Karma
January 25, 2011
Oh, I meant to say too, nice work on the photos! (still don’t want to try them though!)
Gerry
January 26, 2011
😉
Nye
January 25, 2011
Your dish looks delicious, all I need is hot sauce to go with that. 🙂
Gerry
January 26, 2011
Thank you, Nye. The hot sauce is a good idea. Next time I’m going to try that. Maybe red pepper flakes in sesame oil. Or Cholupa Sauce.
Scott Thomas Photography
January 27, 2011
You almost make Brussels sprout look good enough to eat. Almost. 😉
You did well for 4AM (5AM my time so I was probably up, too) and the photos are terrific!
Gerry
January 27, 2011
I’m glad you approve of the photos of the sprouts, if not the sprouts themselves. I will aspire to making them look altogether good enough to eat the next time. 😉
Giiid
February 2, 2011
You have made not only one but two of my favorite dishes, Brussels sprouts and rice with butter. I don´t know many people who likes Brussels sprouts, and your photo made me feel very satisfied, learning that I have a Brussels sprouts friendly friend.
Gerry
February 2, 2011
And they go so well together!
I think that most–although not all–of my correspondents turned out, much to my surprise, to be sprout-friendly. Who knew?
Robin
February 2, 2011
Oh! The sprouts look delicious! I can’t remember the last time I had Brussels sprouts. I will have to look for them at the market when I go this week.
I agree — eating locally grown foods can be a bit limiting this time of year. Like you, I put up a lot of foods during the height of the harvest season that should see us through the winter and into spring, but there are times when you just have to have something fresh and green.
Gerry
February 2, 2011
Thank you, Robin! They were, in fact, delicious.
Anyone who lives in Antrim County would be insane not to eat lots and lots of local food. On the other hand, if memory serves even Barbara Kingsolver decided that she would allow coffee into her year of eating locally. Or perhaps that was just me. I decided that for sure.
I do not put up lots of food. I canned apricots for the very first time this year. I am, instead, fortunate in my friends and neighbors. They put up excellent treats, I buy or trade for same. It is a perfectly wonderful arrangement.
Someday I will figure out a good way to keep a cold frame. Then I will have lettuce and parsley most of the year. The way things are going, I could probably build one inside my house to good effect. Until then, I’ll buy green stuff at the market and become excessively excited at the first ramps in the spring.
Robin
February 3, 2011
Yes, you’re right about Barbara Kingsolver and the coffee. It’s tea and chocolate for me.
A cold frame is something I’ve been contemplating. It would be wonderful to have fresh lettuces and a few herbs throughout the winter.
Ramps! I haven’t heard mention of ramps since we moved out the West Virginia sphere of influence (we lived in Huntington for a while and then just across the Ohio River in southern Ohio for 13 years). I wonder if we have them around here…? I’ll have to check.
Gerry
February 3, 2011
I always find them near the Dutchmen’s breeches . . . !
thedailyclick
February 3, 2011
They LOOK good…. but I know what they taste like (NOT good! 😉 )
Nicely photographed.
Gerry
February 3, 2011
Sprouts, like our little community, are entirely misunderstood. However, I am no missionary. If the rest of you had any idea how good they can be, there would never be enough for me. 😉 back atcha!
And thank you–glad you liked the pictures.