Smashed Brussels Sprouts
Description
An appetizer, snack or (tasty!) crispy side, if you boil and smash these beforehand, it’s a 2-minute effort to get these beauties into the oven. I’ve seen this idea in a few places but I borrowed the outline below from the Food Network – enjoy!
Ingredients
~2 lbs. Brussels sprouts, trimmed
~ 1 c. finely grated manchego cheese
olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper (I’ve replaced regular salt with garlic salt)
~1 t. garlic powder (if you haven’t used garlic salt)
~1 t. smoked paprika
a handful of garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425 and bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the Brussels sprouts for about 10 minutes, drain, cool with running cold water and drain again. Use some clean kitchen towels to pat them all dry. I left mine sitting on towels to drain and dry for a couple of hours.
Flatten each (soft) sprout with a mallet or the back of glass and add to a large bowl. Toss with about half of the cheese, a glug of olive oil, a good sprinkling of salt and freshly ground pepper, the garlic powder and the paprika. Add the seasoned sprouts along with the garlic cloves to your (naked) baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes – for even crispier results, preheat the sheet before carefully adding the sprouts.
When the timer goes, take out the sprouts, flip them over as best as you can, sprinkle on the remaining cheese and bake for about another 15 minutes more. Serve immediately!
