Wednesday, November 26, 2008

About Brussels Sprouts...and Two Upcoming Workshops


Joel Rosen sent us this letter about Brussels sprouts. He also told us about some upcoming workshops. Below Joel’s letter is a good Brussels sprouts recipe!—Maggie


“Fall garden harvest is nearing the end. Everything is done here except Brussels sprouts, which have reached peak sweetness in the past 10 days. The trick this late in the year is finding a time to pick them. If you pick them when they're still frozen, you need to peel a couple of outer leaves and eat them shortly after they thaw out (cooked or raw). If you can find a window of opportunity where they thaw in the afternoon sun on the stalk, they can still be kept for several days in a cool place before eating without loss of quality. Once we've experienced temperatures of -5F or colder, the texture goes pretty rapidly with the variety I grow. I consider it a bonus when we can still eat Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving (likely this year).

Some people like to dig up the plants roots attached and store in the root cellar. They do keep reasonably well this way, but if you wait as long as I do, you'll never get them out of the ground unless you mulch heavily (at least 6" of straw) or get an early heavy snow cover…

A heads up for anyone you know interested in organic and/or sustainable farming: two very well know personalities will be keynoting events in Minnesota this winter. Eliot Coleman, innovative market gardener from Maine and author of several indispensable books for organic growers, is keynoting the Minnesota Organic Conference on Friday, Jan 16 in St. Cloud. He will also be conducting a breakout workshop on High Tunnels (For those interested in organic row crop farming, Fred Kirschenmann, probably the nation's best known organic grain farmer will delivering the Saturday keynote in St. Cloud)

On Saturday Feb 21, Joel Salatin, for many years a renowned innovative grass/livestock farmer and even better known since Michael Pollan's book, will be keynoting the Minnesota Sustainable Farming Association's Annual Conference in Northfield at St. Olaf College. Salatin will also be conducting a breakout workshop.

These individuals will no doubt attract a lot of attention, so anyone interested should register for the session/day of their choice soon. I can provide more information/links for interested parties.

--Joel Rosen”

A Good Brussels Sprouts Recipe

2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and uniformly sliced
2-3 T butter
2 T sliced almonds
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a large deep skillet over low heat.
Add the almonds to the butter in the skillet and cook slowly in the butter until the almonds are toasted. Increase heat to medium. Add the Brussels sprouts and garlic and quickly toss to coat with the hot butter. Sprinkle the red wine vinegar over the sprouts and toss again to coat. Cook, stirring frequently, until sprouts are wilted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Easily I assent to but I think the post should have more info then it has.