The other day I was walking through Ralph’s supermarket and as I passed the vegetables, my eyes did a double take because I had no idea what the caterpillar thing in the corner was.  As I moved in closer, I noticed these cute, little green bulbs hanging off a large stem with mini spikey stems protruding out of it.  “What the hell is that,” I thought and as I got closer I realized that they were Brussels Sprouts still attached to the stem that they naturally grow on.  I was so excited to have fresh, unpicked brussels sprouts, this was something that I would expect to see at the Farmer’s Market not at Ralph’s, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed.

I can’t say this excitement for vegetables is something that has always been a part of me, I never liked vegetables as a kid, but don’t most kids turn their noses up to vegetables? I remember while in culinary school reading somewhere that it had something to do with genes, that kids have a gene that makes them automatically sensitive to bitter tastes.  It could very well be true, but I don’t remember exactly what it was about vegetables that I disliked so much as a kid, I just rarely wanted to eat them.

My transition into eating vegetables was an easy one, I grew up in a household where if I didn’t want to eat something, I wasn’t forced to, my mother just left the issue alone and I left the dinner table, no arguments. In a recent conversation with my friend Lalig, she told me all about her veggie dilemma’s as a child and how she would attempt to combat them. She came from one those homes where the kid is still sitting at the dinner table long after dinner is over with a plate full of veggies that she refuses to eat. This was her stance, but her equally committed mother never backed down and always insisted that she can’t leave the table until those greens are gone, and so began Lalig’s nightly battles with vegetables.

On one of those torturous evening’s, Lalig came up with a solution, the solution was found in the Sparklett’s water cooler in their kitchen and the little removable mesh screen at the bottom water trap. Little Lalig would lift the screen and squeeze all of her despised vegetables in there, then she would announce she’s done eating her greens and was excused from the table with no suspicion attached. I laughed so much at this story, I could just imagine her face sitting at that table wondering how she’s going to get herself out of this, while her brother dances around the table taunting her.  Here’s Little Lalig at 3 on her bike in Torrance, CA.

A couple of weeks later and after many nights of vegetable stuffing, the odor permeating from the Sparklett’s water trap lead her mother to the cooler, where she discovered her daughter’s desperate yet clever attempts to not eat her vegetables.  Naturally she was punished and the same story goes for vegetable battles that occur in many homes, where you find parents urging, forcing and at times bribing their defiant children to eat vegetables. Last year the Los Angeles Times published an article on the number of American mothers who are sneaking vegetables into their kids daily diet without the children knowing, the article went on about how this is not a unhealthy approach.

Hearing my girlfriend’s story of how far a kid can go to avoid the taste of vegetables in their mouth made me think of my own dislike for Brussels Sprouts as a child. I had never even tasted Kale until three years ago while living in San Francisco and cooking at a friends house one evening, and now I love Kale, I cook and eat it often. It’s funny as I get older I fall more and more in love with vegetables, both physically and conceptually. I don’t have kids yet but my advice to those Down Low Vegetable sneaking mothers would be to add things to the recipe that make it more desirable to eat.

With this recipe I wanted to add things that actually bring out the flavor of the sprouts, that distinct bitterness that I actually enjoy now. In this case the love and use of bacon acts as a perfect compliment giving them a smokiness that I love and adding a robust flavor to a seemingly ordinary vegetable dish.

Unlike children as adults we have a great understanding of the importance of getting our good dose of vegetables, aging brings thoughts of living a healthier life and prolonging it as much as we can. What a perfect culinary vehicle than vegetables, find good veggie recipe’s, get your daily dose of antioxidants and hope that after all the effort stress doesn’t kill you.

Brussels sprouts belong to the Brassica vegetable family known as Crucifers, they’re extremely high in Vitamins K and C, a great source of Omega 3’s, fiber and potassium, and are known to help prevent cancer.

The importance of maintaining the nutritional value of vegetables like Brussels sprouts is all in the preparation, the sprouts like most vegetables should be steamed and when paired with the right ingredients they’re absolutely delicious. While I’m a huge fan of butter and a sauté pan, which I don’t completely eliminate from this recipe, I want to emphasize that the process of steaming really helps retain all the vitamins and minerals which make it such a powerful vegetable.  What I love about this recipe is how the sprouts and shallots get caramelized, the sweetness of the apples and how the smoke and crunch from the bacon and toasted almonds give it a nice texture. These crucifers when paired with the right ingredients don’t crucify as vegetables did when we were younger, instead they help prolong the life we cherish so much more as adults.

Brussels Sprouts

If the idea of using bacon oil is not for you, substitute it with olive oil. Applewood smoked bacon is usually a thicker cut, if pan frying it doesn’t give it the crispiness you like, lay the bacon pieces on some foil and put it in the toaster oven for a few minutes making sure not to burn. It can always be substituted with regular bacon.

Yield: 6 servings

5 slices Applewood Smoked Bacon crisped & roughly chopped

2-3 tbsp bacon oil

1 pound of Brussels sprouts, steamed or boiled

1 Shallot, chopped small dice

1 ½ Granny Smith Apples chopped into 1inch cubes

2-3 tbsp of Wine vinegar preferably Sherry

1 tbsp Thyme fresh, chopped

2 Tbsp Almonds, slivered or thin, toasted

¼ Cup Parsley chopped

¼ tsp Kosher salt and black pepper

1. In a saucepan, place Brussels Sprouts in a steamer basket over boiling water. Cover saucepan and steam (8-10) minutes or until sprouts are tender yet crisp, or boil 7-9 minutes.
2. In a deep skillet heat bacon oil, add the shallots and sauté for 1-2 minutes, in the meantime toast the almonds and add to the shallots followed by the apples, Brussels sprouts and vinegar, cook until sprouts are caramelized.
3. Season with salt and pepper, add thyme, and chopped bacon, remove the sprouts from heat, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

A few weeks ago I took on the daunting task of cleaning out my parent’s garage, I was amazed at the amount of things I had accumulated over the years. I found old magazines with Axl Rose and Kirk Cameron on the cover, complete opposites, yes I know, Axl ended up with braids and botox and Kirk is a bible thumper.  It took me three weekends to finish the job and for three weekends I took a trip down memory lane.

Some of the best things I found were love letters by ex boyfriends, high school notes from my friends, and one note in particular that was dated April 17, 1990. It was written by my oldest and closest friend Lalig, in the note she thanked me for the delicious “Macaron,” dinner that I had made for her the night before. I read the note a few times and realized that this must have been my first or second time cooking that dish, or any dish at all for that matter, we were in the 8^th grade.

It was then that not just food but the preparation of it became a part of my world, a world which at that time consisted of Lalig and I discovering how amazing The Clash was, wondering why Jim Morrison was dead and I was daydreaming about whether I was going to marry Axl Rose or Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction.

I always wondered about my culinary roots, my decision to go to culinary school was made on an early August morning while on a Supershuttle in Manhattan. I was riding around with a Jamaican driver who was blasting the radio, the car smelled like cigarettes and my thoughts were drifting, I was contemplating going to grad school. This was something that I had been thinking about for some time, I kept going back and forth in my head trying to figure out if I can go through two more years of studying and writing term papers. As we drove down Broadway the shuttle passed by the French Culinary Institute and as visions of Foi Gras danced in my head, the words “screw it, I’m going to culinary school” uncontrollably came out of my mouth. Next thing I knew, I was back home in L.A. a few weeks later researching the hell out of Culinary schools in the country, and six months after that I opened the door for the first time to my new and extraordinarily large apartment in Nob Hill, San Francisco.

The 5 year search for an answer to explain my somewhat drastic decision came to me in a form of a junior high note written by a close friend, who was the first to taste my cooking.  The note graciously reminded me that I had always been a cook, I was always trying new things and experimenting with spices which luckily for me were abundant in my mother’s kitchen. In high school, I would invite my friends over and cook Monte (Lebanese dish) for them; it would take me all day to cook the dish, and ironically it was Lalig’s mother who first taught me to make it. I still have Monte parties until today, it’s been a couple of years since the last one but by recent request’s I’m on it soon, with a recipe and photos to follow.

So you’re probably wondering what Macaron is? Macaron (pronounced like Macaroni without the ee), is what we refer to as the Armenian version of spaghetti with a tomato meat sauce. Being an Armenian from Iran this was a staple dish in my house growing up, most of my girlfiends and I until today testify that Macaron is our favorite. Each one of our mother’s used the same basic ingredients which includes groud beef, onions, garlic, tomato paste and curry powder.

Naturally, my mom’s version was what I considered to be the best and from her hands to mine the recipe has somewhat changed throughout the years, but not in character.  The character of the dish is personified by the curry powder, one of the greatest gifts to the culinary world, it makes a surprising appearance in what is traditionally an Italian inspired dish. Imagine an Italian style tomato meat sauce laced with curry powder, this love in a bowl (because eating it in anything aside from a bowl is pure blasphemy) has become one of my favorite things to cook.

Cumin, turmeric, thyme, rosemary and wine have also been invited to this pasta party that occurs in my kitchen very often, and each one has effortlessly blended in with the rest of the crowd.   The enhancement of eastern flavors is no accident since three out of my four grandparents were raised in India, aromatic spices always made their way to our table. My own passion for Indian cuisine allowed me to play a bit with the original recipe, Los Angeles has a great Indian community in Artesia, where Little India is a big treasure, its where I shop for my spices and its where I go to get lost in a culture that is familiar, warm and inspiring.

My version of Macaron takes a bit longer to make, it has more heat and spice very indicative of my own feisty nature. Since this is my first entry in Honey, I thought I would start with the beginning of my culinary life, the first dish whose versatility allowed me to experiment with my taste buds and discover a passion that has led me down the Culinary Yellow Brick Road.

Macaron

I usually like to use the hot pepper paste instead of the tomato, oddly the only paste that I can find is made in Turkey, its delicious and can be found in most Middle Eastern and Indian stores or here.

Yield: 6 servings

3 tbsp Olive oil

1 onion chopped, small dice

3 garlic cloves minced

1 to 1 ¼ pound of ground beef, about 8-12% fat

¼ – ½ tsp of kosher salt

1/4 – 1/2 tsp Jalapeño pepper, small dice

¼ tsp of cumin and turmeric

½ tsp of curry powder, depends on how much curry flavor you like

2 tsp each of fresh thyme, rosemary, oregano and basil, chopped small

3 tsp tomato paste or hot pepper paste

1 medium sized can of crushed tomatoes

¼ c red wine

2-3 small to medium Red potato sliced lengthwise ¼ inch thick

¼ tsp parsley chopped (optional)

2/3 pack of regular to thin spaghetti 12 oz. pack

1. In a medium saucepan heat 2 tbsp of the oil and sauté the onions with until opaque about 4-6 minutes, add the garlic.

2. Add ground beef and mince with a wooden spoon and cook on medium heat until meat turns brown 1-2 minutes, mixing and mincing well.

3. Add salt and the following 4 ingredients and cook for 5 minutes.

4. Add the paste, crushed tomatoes and wine, cover and cook on medium to low heat for 30 minutes.

5. While the meat cooks, boil the pasta (al dente) and cut the potatoes, once meat is cooked, in a separate bowl mix together drained pasta and meat.

6. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to the same saucepan that the meat was cooking in and  line the bottom of the pan with the cut potatoes. Transfer meat pasta mixture to saucepan and cook over low-medium heat about 12-15 minutes testing to see if potatoes have crisped.

7. To serve, place a large plate over the saucepan place one hand under the plate flip the pan over. Another way is to scoop out the pasta and individually place potatoes on top of the plate, garnish with parmesan and parsley.