Upside down brussels sprout pizza

It's time to start thinking about Christmas food, as it's soon December. I want to test a few center piece candidates before deciding the dishes for our vegetarian Christmas feast, and I think that it's nice to sample different seasonal food in this pre-Christmas period. So in this spirit I made a seasonal upside down brussels sprout pizza. The crust is a seedy thick crust and the toppings are potatoes, slow cooked onions and brussels sprouts with sage and other spices. I topped the pizza or pie with sea buckthorn and cranberries to add a splash of colour and they also added a nice flavour contrast. I think that this dish could be nice at the Christmas table. I just love sprouts and good ones have started appearing at the market, also the ones in the stalks. I need to make more sprout dishes in the near future, but here is this recipe first.

Upside down brussels sprout pizza

Ingredients

Dough

200 g wheat flour

1/2 cup seed mix

2 tbsp dry yeast

1 tsp salt

150 ml lukewarm water

3 tbsp vegetable oil

Filling

1 onion

1 garlic clove

5-6 small potatoes

8-10 brussels sprouts

Vegetable oil for frying

2 tbsp vegan butter

1 tsp Cabbage Karma spice mix

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Fresh sage leaves

Sea buckthorn and cranberries for decoration

Method

Mix and knead the dough ingredients and let it rise for about one hour.

In the meanwhile prepare the other ingredients. Cook the potatoes and slice them. Steam the brussels sprouts and cut them to halves. Slice the onion and chop the garlic finely and slow cook them in oil.

Add the potatoes and brussels sprouts to the onions and spice the mix. I used Cabbage Karma spice mix that is a blend consisting of coriander seeds infused in orange oil with fennel seeds, sumac, black pepper and lemon thyme. I also added sea salt, ground black pepper and fresh sage leaves.

Arrange the vegetables in the pan. Use the same pan for frying and baking in the oven. I put the brussels sprouts on the bottom (meaning that they will be on top of the pizza once turned around), then the potatoes followed by the onions. Then place the dough on top. Hand stretch it over the vegetables and bake the pizza at 200 C for about 20 minutes. When it's done, turn it around on a plate and enjoy! 

I'm sharing this recipe with the last edition of Eat Your Greens hosted by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen and co-hosted by me. Sadly this event will come to an end after this month, but you still have time to share your green recipe with us! It would be nice to get plenty of green recipes for the last round up. There are more details about the rules here.

Your VegHog

Brussels sprout and potato bake

We don't traditionally eat sprouts in my family at Christmas, as they don't really belong to the Finnish Christmas vegetables. Things are different here in England though, sprouts are considered to be very much Christmas vegetables. I wouldn't mind having them anytime though, and I'm planning to possibly adding them to this year's nut roast, maybe shredded. But that will remain to be seen, as I haven't fully decided on the nut roast yet. But even this Brussels sprout and potato bake could be a nice addition to a festive meal, or served outside the holidays as a stand-alone dish.

Here's how I made this bake.

Ingredients

500 g miniature potatoes

550 g brussels sprouts

3 shallots

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp hazelnut oil

50 ml dry cider

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

Ground black pepper to taste

Ground nutmeg to taste

300 ml vegetable stock

250 g cheddar and mozzarella mix

3 spring onions

Method

Clean the potatoes and sprouts and cut them in half. If you are using a bit bigger potatoes, cut them into even smaller chunks.

Chop the shallots and garlic finely and cook them soft in the hazelnut oil. Add the sprouts and potatoes to the pan. Then also add the dry cider, rosemary, thyme, paprika, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

After the cider has evaporated a little, add the vegetable stock and let simmer until the liquid has almost absorbed and the potatoes are cooked. I even preferred the potatoes to be quite soft already before the baking. But if you want firmer potatoes, don't cook them too long in the pan, as they are going to the oven as well.

Mix half of the cheese to the potatoes and sprouts in the casserole. Then fill an oven dish or dishes with it and layer cheese into the middle.

Bake at 200C for about 10-15 minutes until the cheese has melted and the flavours come together. Chop the spring onions and sprinkle them fresh onto the bake and it's ready to be enjoyed!

This dish is also my contribution to December's Eat Your Greens challenge by A2K – A Seasonal Veg Table. I linked a recipe there for the first time last month, and now I'm determined doing so every month. It's a great challenge and so is Shaheen's blog, check them out through the links! I found this dish quite suitable as the December contribution as it can be an addition to a festive meal or just a plain seasonal weekday meal (+ it's green!).

Your VegHog

 

Brussels sprout gratin

I let the muse take me with this one, I just had the beautiful stalk of red brussels sprouts and some basics in my kitchen that I usually have most of the time, and then I started cooking. The result is this interesting sprout gratin with smoky and lemony flavours. Brussels sprout recipes are great for the winter and I also like the versatile ingredient pearled spelt and will soon be posting more recipes with it.

Ingredients

Stalk of red brussels sprouts (about 400g of sprouts)

125 ml pearled spelt

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 lemon's juice

25 g pine nuts

1 dl lemon and pepper breadcrumbs

Olive oil

100 g smoky cheese

Salt

Pepper

Method

Remove the sprouts of the stalk and steam them for about 15 minutes. Boil the pearled spelt in water seasoned with vegetable stock powder for about 20 minutes until soft.

Heat some olive oil in a pan and sweat the onions and garlic for a few minutes. Add the sprouts and spelt to the onions and season it all with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Also add the pine nuts that you can pre-roast on a dry pan if you want to.

Place the mix to an oven dish and put grated smoky cheese and breadcrumbs on the top. Bake the gratin at 180C for about 20-30 minutes and it's ready to be served. Easy!

Your VegHog

Flower sprouts and baby brussels sprouts with roasted potatoes and tomatoes

Have you heard about flower sprouts yet? I hadn't, not before I bought them, but I was delighted to detect this fairly new mild and nutty British vegetable, a crossing between brussels sprouts and kale. They are small, cute and tasty – and just made for steaming! Don't worry, they have their own web page, if you want to get more information.

Today I combined the sprouts with oven roasted potatoes and cherry tomatoes on the vine. I can imagine that these sprouts make a great addition to any veggie's Christmas meal.

Ingredients

160g flower sprouts

200g baby brussels sprouts

1 red onion

2 garlic cloves

Olive oil

25g butter

Sea-buckthorn salt (or herb salt)

Black pepper

Chili flakes

270g cherry vine tomatoes

Olive oil

500g potatoes

Olive oil

Paprika

Sea-buckthorn salt (or regular salt)

Prepare the potatoes first. Wash and halve them and roll them in olive oil. Sprinkle paprika and salt on the top and bake at 180C until soft, for about 45 minutes.

For the last 10 minutes also put the tomatoes on the vine to the oven after brushing them with olive oil. They will get lovely and juicy after some roasting.

Steam the flower sprouts for about 5 minutes and the baby sprouts for slightly longer.

Chop the onion and garlic and heat some olive oil in a large pan. Sweat the onion and garlic lightly and add the steamed sprouts to the pan. Season them with little salt, black pepper and chili flakes and add some butter. Cook the whole mix for a few minutes and it's already done.

Serve everything together or as a part of a Christmas meal.

Your VegHog

Brussels sprout cottage pie

A vegetarian cottage pie is a treat and should be made more often. I wasn't sure if I should call it a cottage pie, shepherd's pie or something else as the meat is missing, but I decided to go with cottage pie anyway. This is a little bit similar to Tuesday's Lentil pie, and that recipe actually made me think of this variation.  Also this one is easy to veganise by simply replacing the butter with plant based products, even the cider I used is suitable for vegans.

Ingredients

250g Brussels sprouts

250g Potatoes

2 Onions

1 cup of frozen soy beans

A handful of walnut pieces

4 Garlic cloves

1 cup Vegetable stock

1 cup Wyld Wood organic cider (Read my Wyld Wood review.)

Butter

Rosemary

Olive oil

Salt

White pepper

And how on earth could I leave the sprouts out of my ingredient photo? Oh well, I assure you that they were in the pie. By the way my ingredient photos hardly ever feature all the ingredients I used!

Method

First wash the potatoes and boil them in salt water until they are soft and ready to be mashed. If the potatoes are new potatoes I usually leave the skins on. Let them boil on the side and start the other preparations.

Wash and quarter the sprouts. Chop the onions and garlic. Prepare the vegetable stock. I normally use Kallo vegetable stock powder and mix it with water. Rosemary can already be added to the stock at this point.

Heat some olive oil in a pan and gently fry the onions for about 10 minutes. Then add the sprouts and garlic. Let it all fry for a while and then add the cider and let it reduce. Once cider is almost fully reduced add the vegetable stock to the pan and slowly boil under a lid until everything is almost cooked and the stock has reduced. Season with white pepper.

Prepare the potato mash by mixing the cooked potatoes with butter and salt until smooth. Add some liquid if needed. You could use vegetable stock, milk or just water.

Place the sprout mix into a large oven dish and cover it up with the potato mash. Make decorations with a fork and bake at 180C until the top becomes brownish. My decorations looked like the spines down a hedgehog's back.

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Potato skins with Brussels sprouts

Hello Hoggers!

Today I'm making potato skins. They take long time to make but the ingredient palette is very simple and there is not much preparation needed. Most of the time you'll have to be patient and wait for the potatoes to come out of the oven.

I rarely use cabbages but Brussels sprouts are a frequent visitor in my kitchen. They are tasty and healthy and give the twist to this dish. You could also use leeks instead but that's too boring for me today. I also believe that Brussels sprouts generally aren't a big hit among kids but I imagine that they would like this dish.

This is what you'll need:

4 Large potatoes

10 Brussels sprouts

Red Leicester cheese

Olive oil

Sea salt

Pepper

Method:

Wash the potatoes and violently stab them with a fork several times.

Prepare a bowl where you mix olive oil with sea salt. Roll the potatoes in that mix and place them on a baking tray. Remove any excess oil from the baking tray. The saltiness of the potato crust will blow your mind when you taste these later.

Cook slowly in the oven for about one hour at 180C. Turn the potatoes midway through the cooking for more even browning.

In the meanwhile you can quarter the Brussels sprouts and steam them. Then grate some cheese; I also recommend you to try this recipe with some smoky cheese.

When the potatoes are soft and have a brown crust, take them out and cut them half. Spoon the insides out and mix them with the sprouts and grated cheese in a warm pan. Season with pepper.

Fill the skins with the mix and enjoy!

Have a hogtastic weekend all!

The VegHog