Brussels Sprouts with Artichoke Hearts

Over the years my palate has gone through a robust education concerning foods.  Today I eat things that I vowed would never cross my lips.  From previous posts you may have discovered that I had an issue with green foods like asparagus and brocoli that I eventually got over.  One other green thing that always made me cringe was brussels sprouts.  Look at them, what are they?  They look like cabbage that forgot to grow up.  Why would I want to eat something that hasn’t matured yet?

Well like everything in life, I have changed.  I discovered brussels sprouts because my wife and I were dedicated to exposing our children to as many different kinds of foods as we could.  So one day we served brussels sprouts.  Not to my surprise, the children tried and hated them.  As a matter of fact, my wife was not fond of them either.  To my surprise, I liked them.

So my challenge over the years was to cook something that only one person in the family, me, likes.  For some time I discovered everyone in the family would eat anything if I pored a cheese sauce over it.  This worked for a  long time.  Now our children are grown into adults, two of which still live with us, and cheese sauce on top of vegetables just doesn’t do it anymore.

My next new discovery was artichoke hearts.  I have cooked whole artichokes before with really bad results.  Besides, it is a lot of work to get to the prize if you ask me.  A friend of mine introduced me to artichoke hearts marinated in olive oil.  This was a match I could live with.  The result of the match is brussels sprouts with artichoke hearts, enjoy.

Brussels Sprouts with Artichoke Hearts  

Ingredients:

15-20   Brussels sprouts, trimmed

½         Yellow onion, sliced

1 cup   Artichoke hearts, chopped

½         Red pepper, sliced in strips

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp. Butter

1 tbsp. Fresh chopped basil

1 tbsp. Fresh chopped oregano

Directions:

Steam brussels sprouts until just tender, remove and set aside.  Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and peppers cooking until soft, stirring often.  Add artichoke hearts and cook for two minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add butter and stir until melted.  Top with chopped basil and oregano.

Serves 4