Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts

R E C I P E S

Brussel Sprouts with Chestnuts

By Edward Behr

“For aggressiveness and determined lack of subtlety, sprouts have no peer,” Richard Olney wrote, before advocating “shock treatment” with “bacon, anchovy, vinegar, hard-boiled eggs” (not all of them at once). The less fresh that brussels sprouts are, the stronger they are. They’re freshest when they’re broken from a newly harvested stalk, and frost turns them sweeter and milder, but sprouts are never refined. I thought that the big embrace of well-browned brussels sprouts, like grilled asparagus, was a relatively recent innovation to hide the unfresh taste. But back in the 1970s, Paul Bocuse wrote in La Cuisine du Marché that “the best way to prepare them is to sauté them in a pan, browning them well” (after first boiling them in two waters, so maybe he wasn’t much of a fan…). Sprouts come in a range of sizes, and you can add the biggest ones to the pot first, but I accept that some will be cooked less than others; anyway, different people like them more and less well done. You can cut a little cross in the base to speed the cooking, though I’ve never noticed much difference. Sprouts and chestnuts are natural complements and, paired, they go with turkey, goose, pork, or chicken.

1½ pounds (680 gr) brussels sprouts

¾ pound (350 gr) chestnuts in the shell, or 2/3 pound (300 gr) cooked chestnuts, including precooked Spanish and Italian chestnuts in sealed packages

2 tablespoons butter

salt and black pepper

If the chestnuts are raw, cut an X in each shell with a sharp knife or a chestnut cutter. Put them into boiling water, and after 8 minutes take the pan from the heat. Remove a few nuts at a time from the water, and peel the shell and the inner skin. The fresher they are, the easier they are to peel, and as they cool, the skin starts to cling. As much as you can, keep them whole.

Finish cooking the chestnuts by boiling them in a fresh pan of water (or chicken stock). Start checking them after 10 minutes by probing with a skewer or knife — they’re done when they’re fully tender. The time varies according to the size and freshness; exceptionally they may take 50 minutes in that second pan.

Trim the stems of the brussels sprouts and discard the unappealing outer leaves. Boil the sprouts gently, so as not to loosen more leaves, until they’re tender all the way but not disintegrating. Combine them with the chestnuts, butter them well, reheat as needed, and season with salt and pepper. Serves 4 to 6.

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