One last, cheesy-good encore for brussels sprouts
This dish was adapted from Melissa Clark’s “Dinner: Changing the Game.” Clark uses halloumi, a pre-grilled Greek cheese that doesn’t melt when warmed. Here in Wisconsin, we have bread cheese, which is easily found at most groceries.
Before it’s all salads, fresh herbs and succulent berries, I think we have time for one more brussels sprouts dish.
Brussels sprouts are my favorite vegetable, and they are trendy. Talk about a comeback — these little cruciferous spheres were once reviled as stinky and sulfuric, and now they can be found on the tasting menu of restaurants everywhere.
Charred, crispy, roasted, shaved, paired with soy, garlic, lemon and more, they are a chef’s dream. Their bittersweet flavor and hardy texture make them perfect for a wide array of cooking techniques, and they can take spice, acidity, sweetness or umami flavors gracefully.
They are best in the winter, when they are in season and full-flavored, and when hardy vegetables are comforting to the palate. But let’s just do one more before temperatures are steadily above 50 degrees.
I first spied this recipe last year in New York Times writer Melissa Clark’s cookbook “Dinner: Changing the Game” (Clarkson Potter, 2017). When I get a new cookbook, I flip through cover to cover and mark any recipes that catch my attention.
“Fried Halloumi with Spicy Brussels Sprouts” caught my eye, because Wisconsin has its own version of halloumi. Here it’s called bread cheese, but it is the same: a solid, toothsome cheese that is a precooked and little bland out of the package, but warmed up, it resists melting and becomes oozy, oily and delicious.
I had the pleasure of meeting Clark while she visited Madison soon after the release of the book, and she actually emailed me later asking about Wisconsin’s bread cheese. It was a perfect standin for halloumi (although the name isn’t
as musical).
Clark’s technique is preserved here, but I switched up the flavor profile. Both the sprouts and the cheese are adaptable, so if you prefer something different, go for it. The end result should be a balanced dish with spices, fat and acidity. The roasting brings out the sprouts sweetness, as does the tangy-sweet pomegranate molasses.