Balsamic Glazed Sprouts

I really thought I hated sprouts until my mum started frying them with carrots and bacon at Christmas and I realised I love sprouts but the way they are cooked is really important. I also really enjoy raw sprouts and always eat a few while I am preparing them, my mum adds them to lots of salads but my boyfriend thinks this is odd so I tend to cook them for meals! The discovery of loving sprouts and bacon was obviously before I became vegetarian – I have to admit that lardons are one of the things I miss most from meat, more so than bacon, especially the addition of them to fried sprouts and pea soup! Without the bacon the carrot doesn’t add enough so you need something else – I have previously used garlic, ginger, and soy sauce and it is ok but I was looking for a new way to serve vegetarian sprouts

Back in 2018 we were lucky enough to do a west coast USA road-trip which involved a lot of Impossible Burgers (they are amazing, we managed nine in two weeks!!) and most of the burger restaurants served balsamic sprouts as a side dish – apparently, they are quite popular in America. When I got home to the UK, we were invited to a thanksgiving party by an American friend so I decided to give balsamic sprouts a go. I couldn’t find a great recipe and so I just did a bit of experimenting and added a lot more oil and vinegar than any recipe called for as well as cooking them for longer! I actually made them the day before thanksgiving and just didn’t crisp them up so they could be warmed up on the day – they were then cooked for longer than expected too as the meat wouldn’t cook so crisped up nicely and were very well received! It’s now become one of my regular side dishes even if my mum thinks it’s really odd to bake sprouts!

Making the sprouts

1. Preheat oven to 180˚(Fan)
2. Prepare the sprouts (wash them / peel outer leaves off) and trim any hard bits off the base
3. Cut sprouts into quarters
4. Spread out quarters in a baking tray lined with baking paper
5. Add 3 pinches of oak-smoked salt and a good grate of pepper
6. Pour over 4 tbsp rapeseed oil and 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
7. Using the spatula, make sure the sprouts are well coated in oil and vinegar and spread out over the baking tray (I used a large baking tray for 400g sprouts)
8. Cook for 20 mins
9. Take out the oven
10. Add 2 tbsp rapeseed oil and 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
11. Again, using the spatula, make sure the sprouts are well coated in oil and vinegar and spread out over the baking tray
12. Cook for a further 20 mins
13. Stir and taste test, add equal parts oil/vinegar if you feel it’s needed – I sometimes add balsamic glaze at this point but it depends how much vinegar you like!
14. Cook for a further 5-10 mins to crisp up