English meal time annoyance

Haha, well I shall also suggest roasting the sprouts. Cut em in half, toss in olive oil and salt and pepper. mmmm. Pretty much every vegetable is better roasted. My parents make sprouts in the most heinous way, they steam them with vinegar. I just can't do the smell...

I did just that for our Christmas lunch, along with carrots, turnips, parsnips, and small potatoes.  What a success!! 

My husband has sprouts for pretty much every Sunday lunch, but they are bought frozen then boiled - yuck!  I won't say the roasted sprouts were my favorite veggie in the group, but they were quite nice and, even better, my normally rather traditional and somewhat dubious husband loved them! 

We all eat sprouts and cauliflower.  Just steamed.  Even my 20 month old kid eats sprouts and cauliflower with glee.  Are we weird?   

I love cauliflower when it has cheese sauce with it, but I'm not that keen on plain, boiled cauliflower.

I'm not a fan of sprouts at all. I haven't had them any other way that boiled though. 


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Before you write off cauliflower totally, try roasting it!

I will try this....

My problem with cauliflower is that it is pretty much tasteless. As mentioned above....you can blanket it in cheese sauce....but you know that sort of defeats the purpose. 

I will roast!

We all eat sprouts and cauliflower.  Just steamed.  Even my 20 month old kid eats sprouts and cauliflower with glee.  Are we weird?   

Nope, not weird at all! I've always loved broccoli and cauliflower, but I drew the line at the stinky vinegar sprouts!

Fast forward about to 2011 when I worked in this great restaurant that put sprouts in this roasted chicken dish... I wouldn't try them for ages but when I did... I fell in love. I only roast them at home. I even got my sprout hating UK other half to love them too.

I will try this....

My problem with cauliflower is that it is pretty much tasteless. 

I will roast!

Yeah, cauliflower is very bland and it's horrible when it's over cooked and mushy. *shudder* As a kid all I knew was to put salt and pepper on it.

I've seen some great 'recipes' for roasted cauliflower that season it with curry spices, or making it into a roasted cauliflower soup, and even into 'buffalo wings' style veg. It's a staple in our house!

Several years ago my daughter prepared a dish that featured mainly sprouts, and I couldn't get over how good they were.  Up till that point I'd never met a sprout I could tolerate, but these were not only tolerable, they were delicious! 

So when we were planning our Christmas lunch this year I asked her for the recipe thinking I'd try making it.  Weeeeelllll, I got the recipe all right and now I know why they were so delicious - it calls for probably half a cube of butter per serving!  My husband watches his fat intake carefully, so that was an emphatic no for us.  Luckily the roasting worked well. 

Oh, if anyone wants to try the delicious sprout recipe here it is.... I just may have exaggerated the amount of butter a wee bit. 

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/brussels-sprout-hash-with-caramelized-shallots-240411

I love a little bit of fresh lemon juice drizzled over roasted sprouts.  Delicious!

Roasting is definitely the way to go.  DH hated sprouts until I roasted them; he's only ever had plain boiled sprouts. 

The same restaurant I used to work at started to flash deep fry halved brussel sprouts and serve them with crushed nuts, lemon zest/juice, and a garlic aioli. Oh, they were nice...

They're a bit like roasted sprouts, the outer leaves get crispy.

Roasted for the win!

DS has a new theory: we are meant to eat only the foods from where we were born.  That explains his craving for Yorkshire pudding, he claims.  In that case I should be eating lots of Boston baked beans.

My problem with cauliflower is that it is pretty much tasteless. As mentioned above....you can blanket it in cheese sauce....but you know that sort of defeats the purpose. 

I use Mrs. Dash seasoning blends. I am sure there is an equivalent in the UK, although I never thought to look, since I'd just toss a couple bottles in my suitcase on each visit to the US. If not, you could custom blend seasonings you like to give the cauliflower some excitement.

I love cauliflower when it has cheese sauce with it, but I'm not that keen on plain, boiled cauliflower.

I'm not a fan of sprouts at all. I haven't had them any other way that boiled though. 


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In in the party that says "roasted is the way to go" much better than boiled! Plus, if you add some bacon to the sprouts? Yum!

There's a restaurant out here in in CA that's made a Brussels sprouts Caesar! It is so delicious but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. Involved cojita cheese (which I'm not sure can be found in the uk), a jalapeño Caesar dressing, some tortilla strips, a bit of lime juice and a couple red radish slices. Can't recall if there are more ingredients but it's delicious!!!


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I will try this....

My problem with cauliflower is that it is pretty much tasteless. As mentioned above....you can blanket it in cheese sauce....but you know that sort of defeats the purpose. 

I will roast!

To go low carb, you can make cauliflower rice!

Alternatively you can throw it in a kind of curry!


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You could do a cauliflower steak
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cauliflower-steaks-with-olive-relish-and-tomato-sauce-380585
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/roasted-cauliflower-steaks

Brussels can be creamed in parmesan http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/35881/brussels-sprouts-with-creamy-parmesan-sauce.aspx

I came to realize too late that  it was just  my in-laws and not all of England  that were  so  weird  and  'off"  at mealtimes...  they NEVER  had  napkins available...or salt at the table  or bread... I'm Italian American...maybe it was  my high expectations...  I also did not grow up  with brussel sprouts  and let's be honest  "in general"  the Brits  don't  'do' veggies very well..  so I  never liked  sprouts  in the UK because  they were  over  boiled and  gray and tasteless.. Now that i'm trying to lose weight and eat healthy i never knew how YUM they could  be if you  cut them and roasted   them  (as  someone  else  mentioned)  yay!!  My MIL was the  serving Nazi...they NEVER  had  family style  serving...That is how I grew up..where you put everything in the middle  and  serve  yourself.. she  served you     then at 'pudding" time she had the  dessert in front of her  and would  dole out slices  and  of course  you felt bad asking for  more.. she would  let you know if you could have more...  and at first i hated  having to tell them ahead of time how I  liked  my  coffee"...now it's just easy...  My DH  just  'does it"..    you couldn't do that yourself  either.. and they used one spoon  to stir it all.. and you had the same  mug  every time  all the time  as long as you went there.. 

The only way my husband and his family prepare vegetables is by boiling from frozen. No seasonings or anything. Blech! So bland and watery. Veggies have so much better flavor and texture by roasting with just some olive oil, salt and pepper. He says I'm high maintenance for seasoning my vegetables and roasting them    Also his side only ever serves meals by having food already on your plate for you. He said that growing up they never did "family style." In my family that was, and still is the only way they do meals. I prefer family style since it's more informal and you can pick out what you want. And can avoid the questionable casserole that your aunt made.