I am politely disagreeing. I love brussel sprouts and eat them probably twice a week during winter. I halve them and put them into a little boiling water and in 5 minutes they come out bright green, like cute little cabbages, and delish. Your way sounds good also (perhaps when I have more time), but please do not dismiss boiling/steaming as a "horrible cooking technique". You offer a different way to cook them, which is a good thing, but overall the goal is to present a veggie that is full of color and taste, which both methods can accomplish.

-Babka

Welcome to the Cooking Forum Steve.

I haven't boiled vegetables for years. I steam or roast them.

Roasted brussel sprouts have been mentioned several times on this forum and there have been some good recipes posted, similar to yours.

I've roasted them coated in oil and served with toasted pine nuts, but my favourite method is to cook them for a short time in a steam basket.

They turn out bright green and tasty.

SharonCb

Speaking of Brussels sprouts, have you ever made Unstuffed Cabbage? I make meatballs out of the meat stuffing normally used to stuff cabbage with. Brown then simmer in tomato sauce until done. Add partially steamed or thawed frozen Brussels sprouts and simmer until Brussels sprouts just tender. Serve.

Many people do not understand the use of boiling water when it comes to vegetables. They boil the heck out of them, rendering tasty veggies into soggy, vitamin-drained slop.

However, boiling water has it's place as long as you don't overcook! I put Brussels sprouts in a pan of cold water, bring it to a boil, and let them boil for only a few minutes, then remove them and rinse them briefly in cold to stop the cooking process on the outside leaves. The inner continues to cook for a bit.

What I end up with is bright green, tender(but still with some "tooth") globes that taste fresh without being raw and can be served as is with a variety of dips or quartered to be tossed into salads, or tossed in any number of dressings or sauces (mmm, pecan buerre brun w/minced dried cranberries).

I do like roasted vegies, but cooking for the two of us, if I don't have the oven already on I'd rather not heat it up for a dozen sprouts!!

Rachelellen....I'm also cooking for just the two if us.

This is where my little countertop oven comes in so handy. I use it every time I cook a meal, even if it's just for heating up the plates.

I use my main oven about twice a year!

I put potatoes, red peppers, sprouts, onions, yams etc on a tray on one shelf and chicken or fish on the other.

It's the most useful thing I've ever had in my kitchen.

SharonCb

I very seldom roast vegetables - more often I grill or sauté them. When I do boil (or steam) them, such as broccoli, I use very little water and put finely chopped tough stems in the water with minced onion, and when that is about done, I add the florets in a steamer basket. After the florets are done, I purée the stems in the cooking water, add some concentrated vegetable stock, and thicken with potato starch. I then put the florets in the sauce that I made to help keep them warm. None of the water gets thrown out. I use a similar method of cauliflower and asaragus. I do boil Brussels Sprouts, but I don't over cook them, and in this case, I do throw out the water they were boiled in. I might try roasting them next time, however, since I have a new oven. The other vegetable that I frequently boil is potato, and I use the cooking water for that also, either for bread or for soups. I boil collard greens also, and they take quite a while to cook.

Lars

I boil a lot of vegetables. I used to steam them, but then I read Julia Child's views on steamed vegetables. Of course, Julia is always, always right, so now I drop many vegetables in salted boiling water and either cook them until done or blanch them and then finish them in other manners. They come out much more tender that way. Brussels sprouts also do well braised in a pan with just a bit of broth and various flavorings. I don't even own a steamer any more. It's too slow and the claims about vitamins are nonsense.

jxbrown....
Well I haven't seen any statistics to back up your comment that the vitamin claims are nonsense LOL, as all tests seem to prove otherwise, but I can say that steaming is just as fast or faster than boiling, depending on how you do it.

I put about 2 inches of water in a saucepan, add the steam basket and the lid, put it on a high gas flame and then start peeling the vegetables. After ten minutes or less, when I've peeled the vegetables, the water is boiling furiously, so I dump the veggies into the pot, put the lid back on and turn down the flame a little. After five to ten minutes...or less....they are done and have kept their colour, vitamins and better yet, their flavour. So it certainly works for me!

SharonCb

Ever since microwaves came out I have been using a microwave steamer to steam all my veggies. Before that I used a cooktop steamer, so have been steaming them since 1974. I hate boiled-to-death veggies. DH was complaining that his 80+ YO parents still cook them that way. He couldn't eat the veggies when he was back in Midwest.
Clare

Sharon, this is going to sound odd, but I have a nice toaster-oven, and it never even occurred to me to roast veggies in it! What a wonderful idea! Not to mention any number of other things that I could cook in it!

See, I've never had one before, but one came with this house when we recently moved in. So far, I've only used it to melt cheese on bread or keep bacon warm in the a.m. while getting the rest of the breakfast together.

Goodness, it's just the right size to bake a small casserole or a couple of my turkey pot pies I froze after Thanksgiving.

This will be wonderful during the summer heat, when there are times when I'd really prefer not to cook everything outdoors, but hate to heat the whole kitchen up with the oven!

As for the water left over from boiling veggies, I generally use it making soup or stock of some kind in case the vitamins really do leach out into the water. I tend to be skeptical when it comes to that little factoid, but I figure what the heck. I mean, I'm sure vitamins leach out when veggies are boiled to death, but I shouldn't think that blanching or light cooking would do it.

Oops, that's the second time I posted under my husband's name. He got signed in to gardenweb to ask some questions in one of the forums, and as my computer can't get on line at the moment (networking issues, we're working on it), I've been using his computer but keep forgetting to sign him out and me in...

just in case y'all were wondering who this "derick" guy is, it's actually rachelellen!! :D

If you are blanching or gently boiling veggies till they are just tender that's a perfectly acceptable approach, not my favorite but fine.

The issue lies in the mass murder of vegetables in boiling water till every ounce of vitality and flavor are cooked out of them. In my experience veggies like brussel sprouts, beets, and most greens get a bad wrap due to the above boiling technique. Roasting and boiling produce two totally different end products and for the more timid vegetable eater typically the roasted version will go over better.

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