Fatty 'Cue Brussels Sprouts

Last Saturday, Porgy told me that one of his friends made a snide comment because we served Chinese take-out food, cheese and crackers, and frozen Trader Joe’s snacks when we had them over before. It totally annoyed me that someone would say that so I decided to make Roast Leg of Lamb with Roasted Potatoes and Fatty ‘Cue Brussels Sprouts (which I had planned to make on Sunday) that Saturday evening and opened up a nice bottle of Italian Rosso to de-anger myself.

I seasoned the (boneless) leg of lamb with olive oil, salt, pepper and several rosemary sprigs and roasted it in a 400F oven for 20 minutes per pound with the fat side up and used similar seasoning for potatoes (and roasted them for ~30-40 minutes until golden brown and crisped). I saw the Fatty ‘Cue Brussels Sprouts recipe a few months ago on NYTimes website and had been wanting to try it out but had totally forgotten about it until Mo-Fo brought it to my attention again last week because one of her coworkers made it and raved how good it is.


Note: I did not have shallots and fresh Thai bird-eye chili so I used 1/2 of red onions and frozen Thai green chili instead. In the future, I think I might add more chili or chili paste (like Sambal Oelek) at the end to give it more zip.

Ingredients:
2 Thai bird chilies, stems removed
2 garlic cloves
2 small shallots
4 ounces double-smoked bacon, cut crosswise into thin strips
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, crushed
1 pound brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
Kosher salt
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Directions:

• Combine one of the chilies with the garlic and shallots in a food processor and purée, or use a mortar and pestle.
• Fry bacon in a large sauté pan over medium heat until most of the fat is rendered, about 5 minutes. Add coriander seeds and stir until fragrant. Transfer bacon to paper towels using a slotted spoon.
• Add brussels sprouts to the pan, cut sides down, and cook over medium heat until golden brown on the undersides, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and transfer to paper towels.
• Add garlic-shallot paste and cook over low heat until fragrant, about one minute. Return brussels sprouts to pan and cook, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a simmer.
  
• Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until sprouts are mostly tender, about 5 minutes. Uncover and reduce broth to the consistency of a glaze.
  
• Thinly slice the remaining chili. Remove pan from heat and stir in the syrup, bacon and sliced chilies. Sprinkle with salt.