I’ve been cooking brussel sprouts like this for years and I was shocked to see Jamie Oliver cooking them in a similar way, as shown on his recent Christmas Special on British television. I wonder now where this recipe actually came from.

To be fair to Jamie, our recipes do differ slightly – he adds an enormous amount of Worcestershire sauce at the end, where I added Chili and Mango hot sauce from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (or cream for a milder dish – see 3rd November 2011 post). Otherwise the recipes are identical and it is an ideal way to cook sprouts without going to the bother of trimming them and making a cross in the stem so they cook through properly when boiled or steamed in the traditional way.

– Clean the sprouts and take off the dirty outer leaves
– Shred in a kitchen robot machine or slice very finely
– Fry some chopped smoky bacon in a little olive oil and butter until crispy
– Add chopped sprouts and a little water and cover for 5 minutes
– Add some hot sauce (or in Jamie’s version a lot of Worcestershire sauce and some chopped herbs, especially sage if available). No need for salt as the seasoning comes from the bacon.