roasted brussels sprouts with egg and brown butter

First of all, can I just say "go, me" for taking this picture? I know it might not stand out against the works of art that some of my favorite food bloggers compose daily, but for being taken with my Odd Lots point and shoot, I don't think its half bad!

I admit it. I have a little bit of food blog insecurity. The fact that there are so many hundreds people in the world who excel at cooking, writing and photography makes me a little ill. While I don't think I excel at any of the aforementioned, I do try really really hard! So the fact that I took a half-decent photo makes me pretty proud, especially considering I had exactly 45 minutes between work and my meeting to make this meal, which left little time for futzing with light and angles, ect.

Last week, my lunchtime jaunt to Iovines landed me with dollar bags of both persimmons and brussels sprouts. For a moment, everything was right with the world. The produce selection at my local grocery ain't all that, and there are some vegetables that I just forget about because they are rarely stocked. Brussels sprouts are one of them. I've loved them ever since I was five, and my baby sitter told me that I might find a cabbage patch kid inside one. I still eat them gingerly.

This recipe was pieced together from a number of different recipes, including this one at Smitten Kitchen and this one from French Kitchen in America, with help from this really good article in the San Francisco Gate on brown butter.

The eggs were not supposed to be eggs. They were supposed to be fish. I bought the fish, defrosted it, tried to cut it and...I couldn't do it. I felt sick, like I wanted to cry or puke or both. And then I felt silly. I put them in the microwave and encouraged the roommates to have at 'em, while I continued to balk at the fact that they still had their skin.

roasted brussels sprouts with egg and brown butter

1 bunch brussels sprouts
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, mashed with salt
2 tbsp. white wine vinegar [or wine, I debated for a very long time but ultimately went with the vinegar]
little bit of olive oil
sea salt
3 hard boiled eggs, quartered

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop bottoms off brussesls sprouts and remove outer leaves. coat lightly in olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and roast for 30 minutes.

While they are roasting, start your brown butter. Heat slowly until it starts to bubble, add onions and garlic and heat until the butter turns golden and it smells like childhood, christmas, or an ice cream parlor. And your onions are translucent and tender. Stir in the vinegar and set aside.

Arrange eggs on plate. When the brussels sprouts are done, scatter them onto the plate over the eggs, and pour brown butter over the whole concoction.

divine.