Take some pressure off the kitchen this year and gather around the flames to cook up your festive feast. Cooking some of your side dishes over fire will give everything a wonderful smokey flavour and hopefully create a little more space in the oven.
Sprout trees are great charred over the hot embers, it really couldn’t be simpler. No need to pre-cook the sprouts, just throw them straight on the grill with a little drizzle of rapeseed oil. Our Chilli, Fennel and Orange seasoning along with the chorizo add a real warmth to the finished dish. If you have veggie guests then just omit the chorizo from the recipe.
You may not be able to find sprout trees in your nearest supermarket, but your local farm shop should be able to source them (ours are from Priory Farm). Added bonus if they come with their sprout tops, they’re incredible in a slaw or sprout top kimchi. These are great little extras to make to add a little extra boost to your leftovers.
1 Brussel Sprout tree
A good drizzle of rapeseed oil
2 tsp The Salt Box Chilli, Fennel and Orange Seasoning
½ a ring of chorizo
25g tahini
Drizzle of rapeseed oil
150g natural yoghurt
Zest and juice of ¼ a lemon
½ tsp cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
A good handful of soft herbs, wild or home grown, finely chopped
Remove the sprout tops from the tree and reserve for slaw or sprout top kimchi. The sprout tops wont fair too well in the intense heat from the fire and will just burn.
Drizzle the sprout trees all over with rapeseed oil.
Char over the hot embers turning frequently until the sprouts are tender, test by piercing with a small sharp knife.
Whilst the sprouts are cooking, warm a skillet over the fire and sprinkle in the chorizo, cook over a gentle heat and render the fat slowly.
Continue to cook the chorizo until crispy, remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside keeping the rendered fat.
Set the sprout trees aside in a warm place, scatter over the Chilli, Fennel and Orange Seasoning and tent with foil to steam for a few minutes before serving.
Place tahini, rapeseed oil, yoghurt, cumin, salt, pepper, zest and juice of the lemon into a bowl and stir together well.
Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
If the yoghurt is very thick you may wish to let it down a bit with a little water. You want to be able to spread it across the platter.
Using your finest platter, spoon the yoghurt onto the dish and swirl to the edges using the back of a spoon.
Using a sharp knife, remove the sprout from their stalk. Place the sprout trees onto a chopping board and cut down the length, quarter turn and repeat.
Pile the sprouts up onto your platter. Scatter over the crispy chorizo pieces and drizzle over the reserved chorizo oil. Finish with a good sprinkling of torn soft herbs.
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Create a nice hot bed of coals and keep the sprout trees away from the direct flame.
The bigger sprouts at the base of the tree will take a little longer to cook through so test these with a small sharp knife otherwise you might end up with a few crunchy sprouts.
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