Brussels Sprout Crispies

Let’s close the loop on the soup dumpling cliff-hanger from last week: how do they get the soup into the soup dumpling?  The hint in the comments was “celebrity lips” . . . get it??  Collagen, people, collagen. They make a stock with bones (umm – or chicken feet…. sorry).   The collagen in the bones melts into the stock, and then the stock is chilled — and it all firms up into a savory gelatin: “aspic“.  You know how when you chill leftover gravy after Thanksgiving, and it gets all solid in the fridge? Same thing going on there.  In any event, a bit of ground seasoned pork and a scoop of chilled aspic sealed up in a dumpling wrapper.  When heated in the steamer, the collagen melts, and turns back into soup = soup dumplings!

On to the crispies.   We covered these before in the context of Roasted Brussels Sprouts, but these crispies deserve their own moment.

The Goods:

• Large brussels sprouts, halved.
• Olive oil.
• Garlic powder, S&P.

The Execution:

Get the tot to peel all the individual leaves from the halved sprouts, until the leaves cling so close to the middle you can’t get them off without tearing them up.  Onto a sheet pan, toss the liberated leaves with a good drizzle of olive oil and the seasonings.  Into 425º oven, start checking and shaking around after about 5 minutes.  Evacuate when the leaves start to get brown and crisp, probably no more than 9 mins.  Some leaves will crisp up more than others (see photo), but it’s a nice contrast.

The Takeaway:

Think salty crispy fried snacks, only with nutty umami notes.  And these cruciferous bites are sort of good for you.  They are, after all, a vegetable.  Well, a vegetable tossed in oil and salt…

p.s.  Really I’m just doing these again because I cooked them the night I got the new camera, and really liked the pic …   That’s the last small handful of them tossed onto a sizzle platter.  Five seconds after the photo the little one razed the platter.