Brussels sprouts are divisive. Only around 60% of people in Britain enjoy eating them, according to YouGov, and even then most of us ignore them for most of the year: 25% of the entire year’s sprouts consumed are bought in the two weeks leading up to Christmas Day.
Even more bleak for Brussels believers is data from the Office for National Statistics, which says that although supermarkets sell 750m individual sprouts every Christmas, an estimated half are wasted. If you lined all those 750m up, they’d stretch from London to Sydney, and yet all the ones beyond Dubai – or thereabouts – would fall unloved into the sea. This will not do.
It would appear we remain uninspired by these pocket-sized cabbages that are so easily rolled away. It might be decades of boiling. It is a limiting technique by which to cook them.
But in recent years, we have been giving sprouts a bit more love. You will find them on menus imbued with soy sauce, sometimes honey to sweeten. They are commonly found today alongside bacon or pancetta, covered in a thick blanket of parmesan. Roast chestnuts have long been added – a simple steam and then a pan-fry with these alongside ladlefuls of butter would surely appeal to far more than 60% of the population.
I love sprouts any which way. Most recently I had them shaved and raw as a salad. The dish involved plenty of olive oil, finely sliced celery, and toasted hazelnuts, and texturally it was marvellous. It is sometimes on the menu at the Italian restaurant Pastaio in London, which specialises in good handmade pasta at approachable prices.
It is true that although sprouts grow in colder climes, the Italians have truly mastered their cooking. It is a vegetable that lends itself to lemon, heavy seasoning, and the fatty generosity of pork. Vinegar, too, not yet a hard-and-fast arrangement in the home kitchens of Britain, works wonderfully with sprouts, where leaves must be tenderised and nourished so that their earthy nature is modulated but celebrated all the while.
Another fine Italian restaurant is the Michelin-starred Luca. There, head chef Rob Chambers, a British chef of Italian heritage, cooks outstanding bowls of pasta. This one, with our old friend the Brussels sprout, together with chestnuts, sausage stuffing, and plenty more besides, would, I think, win over the whole 40% of defectors. It is a replenishing dish for Christmas, but with stupendous amounts of razzle-dazzle.
Mezzi paccheri of ragù bianco of pork sausage, Brussels sprouts and chestnuts
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 packet mezzi paccheri, or similar pasta
For the Brussels sprout and pork ragù:
200g cooked/leftover Brussels sprouts
220g sausage stuffing
2 cloves garlic
100g of cooked chestnuts
Zest of 1 lemon
70g pancetta, diced
A few sage leaves
30ml Chardonnay vinegar
30ml white wine
30g unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
80g white onion, diced
80g celery diced
40ml olive oil
150ml of parmesan water (see below)
For the parmesan water:
100g parmesan, grated
300ml water
1 bayleaf
8 peppercorns
Salt to taste
Method:
Place a large pan of water on the heat and bring to the boil, adding a pinch of salt. While the water comes up to boil, make the sauce.
To make the parmesan water, add all the ingredients to a saucepan and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes before taking off the heat. Leave to cool.
For the sofrito, sweat down the onions, celery and a pinch of salt, then add the garlic and sweat down for a couple of minutes before removing from the pan and leave to one side.
Turn up the heat in the pan, add the diced pancetta and cooked chestnuts, then break up the sausage stuffing and add. Add the sofrito, finely slice the sage leaves, deglaze with the wine and the vinegar. Cook until the pan is dry, then add the Brussels sprouts, the butter and the parmesan water. Bring to a simmer.
By this time, the large pan of water will have come up to a boil. Add the pasta and cook to the cooking instructions.
Once the pasta is cooked, add into the ragù bianco along with a few tablespoons of cooking water. Add the grated lemon zest and a good twist of freshly grated pepper. Work the pasta into the sauce. Taste for seasoning, then serve in warm pasta bowls and add a touch of grated parmesan.
