Savory Brussels Sprout "Truffles"

Happy Holidays, everyone!  I’m sure you’re getting ready to settle in for good times with family and friends, so today I’ll skip the chatter and just present you with a recipe for easy holiday appetizers that are as delicious as they are elegant.  Extra bonus: they’re ready in 10 minutes!

Savory Sprout & Parmesan Truffles

Grated Parmesan cheese
Dash of nutmeg
Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and the first layer of outer leaves stripped away and discarded
Pat of butter, preferably from grass-fed cows (Kerrygold and Organic Valley are good choices)
Toothpicks

Pour some Parmesan into a flat-bottomed bowl or a large plate. (I used about 1/4 cup cheese for 12 sprouts.) Sprinkle on a dash of nutmeg and mix the nutmeg into the cheese with your fingertips. Make sure you have a stack of toothpicks close at hand.

Simmer the sprouts in gently boiling water for 8 minutes, then immediately drain and set aside. Place the pat of butter in the still-warm pot to melt the butter. Tip the drained sprouts back into the buttery pan, swirl them to coat, and stick a toothpick in each sprout.

Roll each sprout in the spiced cheese. As you roll them, you might want to put them on pretty serving trays or place groups of them on small plates. You can make these a few hours ahead of time if you’d like — your savory truffles will be scrumptious served warm or cold.

Enjoy!

Cayenne-Parmesan Popcorn

How to Pop It:

Your easiest option is an air-popper. If you don’t have one (which I don’t), you can also pop your corn using the old-fashioned, you’re-gonna-get-a-workout method.

1. Find a pot that’s deep but not too heavy–you’ll be shaking it constantly. It should also have a fairly tight-fitting lid.
2. Set out a large bowl.
3. Add a tablespoon of ghee, butter, or coconut oil to the pan — enough to cover the bottom of it with a thin film once the fat melts — and set the pot over medium-high heat.
4. Measure out your plain popcorn (grocery stores usually stash the plain kind on a bottom shelf somewhere near the Orville Redenbacher stuff). I find that 1/4 cup will make enough for one person. Do not try to eyeball this–you’ll wind up with enough popcorn to decorate three Christmas trees! Popcorn has amazing powers of expansion.
5. Add the kernels to the pot and swirl them around to make sure that they’re covered with oil.
6. Cover the pot and get out a potholder or oven mitt.
7. Use the potholder/mitt (I prefer a mitt since sometimes tiny speckles of oil come out from underneath the lid) to hold the lid down firmly with one hand.
8. With the other hand, get a good grip on the handle of the pot. Start shaking. You can rest for a few seconds now and again, but if you don’t shake the pot almost constantly, you’ll burn the popcorn. If you shake it continually, however, you’ll have stronger arm muscles and a beautiful bowl of popcorn. (I rarely have unpopped kernels when I make popcorn this way.)
9. After a minute or so, you’ll hear the rapid popping start. This is the fun part! Keep shaking and listening–when the popping slows to a crawl, it’s time to pour the popcorn out of the pot and into the waiting bowl. You can plop a pat of butter into the still-hot pot to melt it.
10. Pour the butter over the popcorn and then swirl some popped kernels into the pot to get the rest of the butter onto the kernels.  Alternatively, you could also use extra-virgin olive oil or more melted coconut oil.
11. Add toppings. These may include: sea salt, freshly-ground pepper, roasted garlic flakes, dry grated cheeses such as Parmesan or Romano, cayenne pepper, chili powder, curry powder, etc.  For dessert popcorn, sprinkle with cinnamon and drizzle on a bit of honey.

Enjoy!

Approx. 3 portabello mushrooms, stems cut flush with the gills
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced fine
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
Olive oil for sauteéing and drizzling
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs (make your own by throwing some stale bread–preferably whole wheat–into a blender)
Fresh basil, rolled tightly and then cut into thin strips (this is called chiffonade)
Cayenne pepper (optional)
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Wipe the portabellos clean with a damp paper towel and set aside. Make a sofrito by sauteéing the pepper, onion, garlic, and tomatoes over medium heat for 3-5 minutes or until the onion is almost translucent. Remove from heat and spoon into a medium bowl. Add fresh bread crumbs, basil, and a pinch of cayenne (or as much as you think your tongue will tolerate). Put the portabellos on a cookie sheet gill-side-up and mound them with the sofrito mixture. Top with Parmesan cheese. (This amount also depends on your tastebuds.) Spray/drizzle with a little bit of oil and then bake for about 15 minutes or until the Parmesan is beginning to turn golden.

Enjoy!

Note: be sure to make your own bread crumbs rather than using the commercial variety–just take a look at the list of ingredients on the pre-made kind and you’ll see why. (The only way to keep it from spoiling on the grocery shelves is to add a LOT of preservatives and chemicals.) Besides, you can keep your own in the freezer for up to six months, so the next time you have bread that’s going stale, don’t throw it out! Make your own bread crumbs instead. Another bonus is that you can control the final texture–for some recipes, you may want the crumbs to play a more central role, one that would be more suitable for coarser, larger crumbs.