Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic Aioli

So I almost posted another cake recipe on here today. You deserve it, of course. But I thought that I really should get back to writing about real food (you know, sometimes). So then I was going to post Chicken Lazone, which is kind of like the dessert of the meat world because it contains no less than two cups of heavy cream (you deserve that too). And then I thought that maybe I should get control of my food porn problem and seek help or something. But then I didn't. So, even though you're getting a Brussels sprouts recipe today, you should know that it is every bit as fantastic as all those other recipes. It's a little more wholesome, but I did make a garlic aioli sauce to keep it from becoming too virtuous.

Cole vegetables are in season right now. Cole vegetables are the broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale family. They have an undeservedly bad reputation. Maybe because these veggies have often been used at times of war, famine or distress to keep starving people alive. No one loves a vegetable they had to eat every day for two years when the only other option was eating tulip bulbs. And they are vegetables that don't take well to canning (or boiling for that matter), so some traditional means of cooking and preserving them make them gross. Which hasn't helped their reputation at all. But in non-starving America where you can roast your delicious cool season vegetables and serve it up with a side of dipping sauce (not because it is necessary; these are delicious even without it), you should definitely add some of these lovelies to your meal rotation. They're easy. They're healthy. They're on sale.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic Aioli
adapted from Cakescottage
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20-30 minutes
Cost: $1.85
Brussels sprouts: 1.50, mayo: .20, other stuff: .15

1 pound Brussels sprouts, cut in halves or quarters if they're large
olive oil
salt

For Aioli sauce:
6 Tbsp mayo
1/4 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp chopped parsley

Set oven to 400 degrees. Toss Brussels sprouts in olive oil and salt (the dip has no salt, so we're relying on a little salt here). Roast for 20-30 minutes (depending on how big the halves/quarters are). Ever 10 minutes or so, you'll give them a little toss, so they get color on all sides.

While it's cooking, prepare the Aioli sauce. To do so, just mix all those ingredients together (rocket science, here I come).

Serve the Brussels sprouts warm with the dip. You can serve it as a side or a light lunch.

Note: You'll have leftover sauce (at least I always do. It's great with meat, especially chicken, especially chicken or pork sandwiches).

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Lemon Curd

This month for Secret Recipe Club, I got Culinary Adventures with Camilla.  Camilla is actually the fearless leader of our SRC group and I was excited to stroll around her blog. I realized that even though I visit her blog every month for SRC, those are other people's recipes she's cooking, and I haven't really looked through her own stuff. It was sooo fun. She had tons of interesting recipes using interesting foods as well as some posts on those foods themselves, which I thought was fascinating and helpful. She's an adventurous eater and that was absolutely and beautifully reflected in the pages of her blog. While looking on Pinterest at some of her recipes, I found a recipe for blood orange and lemon curd. It sounded amazing, but what I really wanted was just lemon curd. She had that too.

I've been wanting to make lemon curd forever and just haven't gotten around to it. I was worried it would be hard. It wasn't. And Camilla's recipe is delicious.

It's like a cross between pudding and jam. I believe you can eat it either way. Spoon it into your mouth if you wish (I certainly did). Or put it on toast or yogurt or cheesecake. 

It is going to be the perfect match for my lemony birthday cake.

Lemon Curd
from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Makes about 2 cups
Prep and cook time: 10-15 minutes
Cost: $1.80
lemons: 1.24, sugar: .15, eggs: .60, butter: .80

1 C fresh lemon juice (about 4-5 large lemons--I get mine from the Asian store where they're cheaper)
4 tsp lemon zest
1 C sugar
6 large eggs
12 T butter, cut into cubes

Combine lemon juice, zest, sugar, and eggs in a large saucepan. Mix and warm slightly. Add the butter and mix as it melts. Whisk very frequently over medium or medium low heat until the curd is thick enough to hold the marks of the whisk and maybe the first bubble breaks the surface. Don't let it boil though.

Allow to cool.

Eat with a spoon from the jar if you want:). Or on toast, with plain yogurt, ricotta, cheesecake, or whatever.

Note: If you happen to have some of your egg turn into blechy white bits in the curd, just strain it through a fairly fine mesh strainer and all will be well.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

An InLinkz Link-up

Lemon Bundt Cake

My birthday is coming up this week. I love my birthday--love it like a child. This is what I do every year. On the day of my birthday, I spend the morning going to various stores/restaurants that give you free stuff for your birthday. For a few good resources about where you can go to get free stuff on your birthday, look here. Then Kip and I go out for dinner (often for Indian food, which I love, but Kip doesn't). And then I have adult friends over for cake and ice cream. Because I think we all know that it's perfectly adult to eat cake and ice cream together. I love it. Love love love it. 

But it's only good if you've got good cake. 

I also loooove making my own cake on my birthday. Not everybody does, but I do. Truthfully, I usually make it the night before, but it must be made by me me me. Because I make amazing cake. And I like making cake. And I like eating amazing cake. The end. 

Here is what I'll be making this year. It's a lemon bundt cake. I first made it for a church potluck. I wasn't sure how it would turn out (and, in fact, only snapped a few quick shots of it with my camera). I didn't quite trust the recipe. It had no baking soda. I was worried it'd be flat or weird. Nope. It was incredible. If I had known how amazing it would be, I might have skipped the potluck and just sat in a corner of my kitchen eating it by the fistful. So it's probably fortunate that I didn't know how fantastic it would be. The glaze for this is perfect, but if you wanted to do orange or lime or raspberry, I wouldn't stop you. 

We did it for my birthday with the lemon glaze and then a strawberry glaze over that. Delicious. 

Lemon Bundt Cake

adapted from My Recipe Confessions

Makes one bundt cake

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 70-80 minutes

Cost: $3.35

flour: .40, butter: 1.00, sugar: .30, powdered sugar: .20, buttermilk: .30, sour cream.25, lemons: .75, other stuff: .15

Note: When I made this the first time I used a cheater buttermilk (1/2 C milk and 1/2 Tbsp vinegar). The second time I made it with real buttermilk. The truth is that I think it's better with the cheater version--moister.

Cake: 

3 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 C butter, softened

2 C sugar

3 eggs

1/2 C buttermilk (can use 1/2 C milk and 1/2 Tbsp vinegar if don't have buttermilk)

1/2 C sour cream

4 Tbsp lemon juice

zest of two lemons (about 2 Tbsp)

1 tsp vanilla

Lemon Glaze: 

1/4 C butter, softened

1 1/2 C powdered sugar

3 Tbsp lemon juice

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and spray bundt pan well. 

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. 

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one by one. Mix in the sour cream, lemon juice, vanilla, and lemon zest.  

Mix half the flour mixture in. Then add the buttermilk. Then mix in the other half of the flour mixture. Mix just until incorporated. Pour batter into bundt pan. 

Bake for 60-70 minutes (this was the original instruction; mine took longer--probably close to 80 minutes, so don't freak out if it's not quite done at 70 minutes). A toothpick or knife or some other pricking implement should come out clean or with moist crumbs (not wet blobs) when inserted into the thickest part. 

Allow the cake to cool for 5-10 minutes, then turn it out on a cake platter. Spread half the lemon glaze over the warm cake. Do this! It will soak into the cake and contribute to its sheer amazingness. 

Let cake cook completely and add the rest of the glaze (Note: The picture you see up top is just with the first layer of glaze. I had to wait for it to cool and by then we were at the potluck and I was dumping it on there, so I didn't get any shots of it truly complete. The glaze on the cooler cake will be more of a frosting and less of a glaze that sinks in.)

For the glaze: 

Cream butter. Add sugar and lemon juice. Beat well until it's smooth and creamy. 

Optional Strawberry Glaze:

1/2 C strawberry jam

2 Tbsp cream

1-2 Tbsp milk

1 C powdered sugar

Blend in a small blender or whisk. 

PRINTABLE RECIPE