This is one of the first winter vegetable harvests of the season - good old Brussels sprouts. I've already had some leeks off the allotment and snuck a parsnip earlier in the month but they go with colder weather than we are having at the moment. I think this is Seven Hills but I'll need to check. Some of the buttons are a bit small, others slightly blown but I'm looking forward to them.
BPs are one of my favourite vegetables despite my mother boiling them to death in ham water. I'm surprised I wasn't put off for life.
Now it's 5-6 minutes in boiling water, drain and serve plain (a knob of butter and some salt if you're allowed). Cooked this way they'll retain their colour and bite. They'll join some baked leeks this evening and roast Charlotte potatoes to go with grilled chicken breasts. I sense good things about to happen.
I've several plants of Red Rubine in the ground as well but they are taking a long time to develop. Will they retain their colour when cooked?
Yes, the red ones will keep their color after cooking, and might even bleed a bit. It looks really nice if you mix the red and green ones together before serving them, but I would cook them separately.
The problem I had with the red ones is the sprouts were tiny. You may find they are as developed now as they are going to get.
Posted by: Patrick | November 08, 2007 at 09:45 AM
Beautiful sprouts. They're good roasted with some shallots and Italian bacon too. If you're going to have butter, you may as well have pork fat!
Posted by: steven | November 09, 2007 at 05:49 PM
Hiya, nice blog. Just out of interest, when did you sow your sprout plants and when did they get planted out. I think mine were a little late...My purple sprouting broccoli is the other way round, it is huge as i planted it in april, but i've seen some people have plants that are still quite small...brassicas are my weakness!
-----Thank you. Don't have my notes with me as I write (I have a plan of the beds and write in -usually- when I've sowed,tranasplanted etc) but looking at my desk calendar I had planned to sow BPs in the seed bed week beginning 16 April so I'm guessing they were planted out in final position end of May/early June.
But I do remember getting the PSB in very early (end March/early April) and it is now about shoulder high!
Posted by: Vegmonkey | November 11, 2007 at 06:13 PM
My rubines stay red - they are delicious stir fried with bacon.
----Good to know that, now all I want is for them to get to a decent size. With bacon eh? Bring it on!
Posted by: Frankie | November 12, 2007 at 07:58 PM