Roasted Brussels Sprouts with bacon and hazelnuts

Brussels Sprouts…. I used to really hate them when I was a kid. I didn’t just think they were not good, I thought they were little balls of stinking snot… Yuck… So when Tom told me – we must have been living together for a couple of years at that time – that he really liked Brussels sprouts I looked at him pitiful. ‘Seriously?? You like them?? Well don’t expect me to ever cook them for you!’ That was more or less my response. But ok, I knew by than that my mum just wasn’t the best of cooks and there were a couple of other things I didn’t like growing up that turned out to be surprisingly good once made differently. (like kale for instance)

So when I saw a recipe featuring Brussels Sprouts at some point in a mash together with some other veggies I figured it would be a safe dish to give those little snot balls another try. And so it happened; and they were ok. Not world changing or anything but just ok. Ok enough to let go of my sprouts phobia just a little bit, but not as much that I would be buying them on my own free will all of a sudden. And that remained like that for a while until – well until I made this dish really.

Because wow… how good is this!! By roasting them they get a completely different flavor than the taste I’ve been used to growing up. This is good. Really really good. And the hazelnuts and bacon go together really well too. I roasted the Brussels sprouts in some garlic oil and a little bit of lemon oil. It’s a crime to ever cook these darlings again!

Print Recipe

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with hazelnuts and bacon

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Obviously when you do not have garlic or lemon oil, you can use regular olive oil and add a bit of garlic and/or lemon

Ingredients:

• 500 gram Brussels sprouts (go for the smaller ones)
• 150 gram bacon, cut into strips
• 3 tbsp garlic oil
• 1 onion, cut roughly
• 75 gram hazelnuts, roasted and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp of lemon oil

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 220 C.
2. Clean the Brussels Sprouts and cut them in half or in quarters if they're big. Put into a large baking tray so they don't crowd each other.
3. Add the slices of bacon and onion. Mix together.
4. Add the garlic oil and the lemon oil and stir everything through so all sprouts are covered with a big of oil.
5. Add salt and pepper and put into the preheated oven. Stir it all halfway through the baking time.
6. As soon as they are done (try one of them to make sure) put into a serving tray and sprinkle with the roasted hazelnuts.