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Brussel Sprouts Loaf
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Brussel Sprouts Loaf

The less meat heavy alternative to Beef Wellington for Christmas
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Course: Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine: European
Keyword: Brussel Sprouts, Loaf
Servings: 4

Equipment

  • 1 Cooking Pot 20 cm
  • 1 Potato Masher (not a ricer)
  • 1 Sheet Tray
  • 1 Wooden Spoon
  • 1 Peeling Knife
  • 1 Pestle and Mortar
  • 1 Grater optional if using Microplane
  • 1 Microplane optional if using Grater
  • 1 Large sized mixing bowl
  • 2 Medium sized mixing bowl
  • 1 Small sized mixing bowl
  • 1 Pastry cutting knife/wheel optional
  • 1 Cutting Board

Ingredients

  • 500 grams Brussel sprouts unpeeled weight
  • 1 large Potato (boiled)
  • 1 sheet Puff pastry
  • 2 tsp Rock/Sea salt coarse
  • 2 tsp Black Pepper Whole corns
  • 1 pinch Nuttmeg To taste
  • 100 Grams Diced Bacon (optional)
  • 2 Eggs (medium sized)

Instructions

  • Using yourpeeling knife start by capping you Brussel sprouts and discard the outer leaveswhen they are dirty.
  • Set a potwith of water on the stove to boil
  • In themeanwhile whisk the eggs together and set aside (covered)
  • Boil thebrussel sprouts for a couple of minutes until they are “al dente” and take outabout 1/3 of them and set aside whilst the rest boils for a bit longer as theywill be mashed later on.
  • With a pestle and Mortar grind the salt and pepper medium fine and take out about 1/3rdand grind down the rest into a finer powder. The coarser mixture is going to beyour decoration for on top of the loaf the rest will be the seasoning for theinside later.
  • By this point the sprouts will be boiled through, remove from the heat, strain of thewater and transfer your fully cooked sprouts into a container where they can bemashed. But let them sit there for a couple of minutes to cool down, givingthem an occasional toss every couple of minutes. The goal here is to reduce thetemperature so much that the egg which we are going to add later does not solidify.
  • Meanwhile cutup your boiled potato into small pieces and add to the fully cooked sprouts.
  • At thispoint turn on the oven at 200 degrees centigrade (Setting: fan oven).
  • Now we will start mashing our fully cooked sprouts adding the 2/3 of our salt andpepper mixture slowly as well as adding the nutmeg (if you have a whole nutmegI suggest grating the desired amount with a microplane).  and mashing/stirring as you go along so youcan taste when you have reached the desired salt level. The sprouts can bemashed pretty well with a potato masher I have found, yet for mixing with theeggs I would suggest switching to a fork or a wooden spoon to mix them inthoroughly whilst making less of a mess. So for the forementioned mixing in the eggs, slowly poor the egg mixturein whilst stirring, the result we are aiming for is sticky not totally wet. Leave enough egg mixture in the bowl to later brush your loaf.
  • If you add them, brown your diced bacon until cooked and crispy.
  • Add the bacon to the Egg Sprouts mixture.
  • Now, and only after the previous step you can take the sheet of puff pastry out ofthe fridge and unfold it onto a / its baking sheet on the baking rack/sheettray. Using a sharp knife/pastry cutter/cookie cutter cut off some long stripsfor decorating you loaf, if desired. If you want to be extra fancy at thispoint you can use a sheet of puff pastry and a puff pastry cutter wheel tocreate a crosshatched sheet of puff pastry to cast over the loaf later as asort of nett.
  • Now you canplace the egg potato and sprout mash into the puff pasty like a sort of longwide sausage, adding your “al dente sprouts” distributing them evenlythroughout. Do make sure to leave space on the long end as well as plenty of space on the sides so we can still fully close our loaf. We want to form theloaf as best we can (I figured with clean hands was the best way to do this). Close the loaf by folding the sides of the puff pastry toward the top of yourloaf where they should still overlap. Make sure that in the end the loaf isclosed. With a sharp knife you can cut of the excess a the ends of the loaf.
  • At this point you can decorate the loaf with the strips cut earlier, softlypressing them in place on the sides. Use your leftover egg to egg wash the loafcarefully with a brush and sprinkle over your coarse salt pepper mix.
  • Now you canplace your loaf  in the oven for about 30to 45 minutes depending on your oven and turn the heat back to 180 after 15.When your puff pastry is nicely browned you can take the loaf out of the ovenand let cool for 10 minutes before cutting into.

Notes

Serving tipthis dish makes for excellent crossed slicing with a breadknife.Pairing, rich full bodied dark sauces, it goes surprisingly well with hoisin based sauces or a  red wine sauce.
This one is special to me and goes exceptionally well with chicken, asian style duck, feassant and other gamy birds. 
It used to be a holiday season staple in our house when I was younger always and exclusively made by my mother who passed away in 2016 unfortunately, without giving my there recipe. So I had to reverse engineer this dish from the tastes and ingredients I knew were in it.