Roasted Brussels Sprouts

My cooking gas is back on!!!! For the last several weeks, I have been fantasizing about all the things I would do when my gas came back. Make cakes and cookies, roast lots of broccoli, make big pots of soup, kale chips... But today, for the first time since last winter, I saw brussels sprouts for a reasonable price, and I knew what I had to do. Roasted brussels sprouts!

Brussels sprouts are one of my favorite veggies to roast. They make my apartment smell like farts, but it's so worth it! They come out of the oven crispy on the outside, tender to the bite, brown and salty, and roasting brings out a nutty flavor and slight sweetness. There are a lot of recipes that combine roasted brussels sprouts with nuts (for example, hazelnuts or chestnuts) and it's no wonder that the two go so well together. Here is a basic recipe to roast brussels sprouts all by themselves. These are best served immediately. They're good as leftovers, but not quite the same because the crispiness gets lost.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

• Preheat oven to 450F.
• Trim all the sprouts (remove brown ends of stems, and yellow leaves) and cut them in half lengthwise (so that each half has the stem intact).
• In a bowl or a zipper bag, coat the sprouts with olive oil, salt and pepper, and spread evenly on a single layer on a pan. (Or, if you're lazy like me, you could just spread them on a pan, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.)
• Bake for about 30-35 minutes until well browned and tender to taste, turning them with a spatula at least every 10 minutes or so, so they brown evenly on both sides and don't stick to the pan.

What is your favorite way to cook brussels sprouts?

Do you like to dress up your brussels sprouts or just eat them as is?

Vegan on a shoestring