Recipe: Pomegranate Balsamic Brussels Sprouts

Now, I'm not known for my love of veggies.  Cheese, maybe.  I do love me some cheese.  But vegetables and I don't have a mad whirlwind love affair going on or anything.  We like each other, sometimes.  But that's about it.  Well, a while back I was on a crazy veggie roasting kick.  Weird, I know!  We're talking mass quantities of roasted veggies for lunch and/or dinner.  It was a little extreme!  Eventually I kind of burnt myself out.  But, for a while, it was glorious.  True roasting magic.

In the midst of all the roasting I found a lovely little recipe for brussel sprouts with a pomegranate balsamic glaze.  Now, I think I had had brussel sprouts maybe once in my life before this and I don't remember being too fond of them.   But I'm a sucker for anything with pomegranate in it!  And I do love me some balsamic glaze!  So I went for it, and behold:

Gorgeous sight, isn't it!?  And it tasted better than it looked, trust me.

  

 Brussel Sprouts with a Pomegranate Balsamic Glaze

1 - 1 1/2 lbs. brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved

Olive oil (generous drizzle)

salt and pepper 

1 cup pomegranate juice

1/4 cup balsamic

1/4 cup sugar

handful of pomegranate seeds

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Toss cleaned brussel sprouts in a bowl with olive oil, course sea salt and pepper until coated.   Spread sprouts out in an even layer in a parchment lined roasting pan or walled cookie sheet (the parchment makes clean up easier).  Roast sprouts for 20 to 25 minutes then take them out and stir them around.  Put them back in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes, until they start to brown.

While the sprouts are in the oven, start working on the glaze.  Bring balsamic, pomegranate juice and sugar to a slow boil in a saucepan. Make sure to stir the glaze regularly.  After about 15 to 20 minutes the glaze should reduce to about two-thirds and should coat a spoon.  Take it off the heat and let it rest until the sprouts are done.

Once the sprouts are done, transfer them to a large plate or platter, sprinkle them with pomegranate seeds and drizzle with glaze (The original recipe said 2 tablespoons of glaze...but once I tasted the glaze I put almost all of it on the sprouts! It's that good!).

Now, for those of you who are pomegranate-shy, don't you fear!  Take a look at this quick and easy demonstration and you won't sweat at the thought of breaking down a pomegranate for one second.

Pomegranates are so very pretty and interesting inside!

 Let's just talk about how adorable brussel sprouts are for a second.  Can we?  They're like little itty-bitty heads of cute cabbage!

If you give it a try please let me know how it turns out and what you think!  I absolutely loved it, but then I love pomegranate and balsamic.  Antoine, who isn't as pomegranate crazy as I am, seemed to really enjoy the recipe as well.