Cheesy Brussels Sprout Bake with Pecan Breadcrumbs
Since the holiday season is approaching, I thought it would be fun to come up with a Brussels sprout side that’s something different than the crispy, roasted Brussels sprouts that many of us are used to (which I love). I’m obsessed with how well cruciferous vegetables, like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. pair with ‘cheesy,’ creamy flavors. It’s a classic combination that’s hard to beat.
In this recipe, Brussels sprouts are baked in a ‘cheesy’ cashew sauce, evoking that classic pairing. The bake is topped with pecan ‘breadcrumbs,’ which add a little crunch, sweetness, and festiveness. And if you happen to have leftovers, they make for the most delicious mac and cheese (see the intuitive cooking takeaways below)!
Cheesy Brussels Sprout Bake with Pecan Breadcrumbs
serves 4-6
sea salt
1 1/2 lbs/680 g Brussels sprouts, root end and damaged outer leaves trimmed, halved if small, quartered if large
1 3/4 cup raw cashews, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes (see note)
juice and zest from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon white miso
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast, divided
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
freshly ground black pepper
about 2.5 oz/70 g unsalted rice crackers (to make 1/2 cup crushed)
1/2 cup chopped raw pecans
1 garlic clove, grated
Preheat the oven to 350° F (175° C). Bring plenty of well-salted water to a boil in a medium pot. Add the Brussels sprouts and boil for 3-4 minutes, until tender, but with a little bite remaining. Drain the Brussels sprouts over a colander and rinse with cold water.
In an upright blender, combine 1 3/4 cup water with the cashews, lemon zest and juice, miso, mustard, 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, maple syrup, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste. Blend on high until smooth. Taste for salt and pepper, and adjust if needed (the sauce should be very well seasoned).
Add the rice crackers to a food processor and pulse to a breadcrumb consistency. Add the pecans, garlic, 1 remaining teaspoon of nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper to taste. Pulse a few more times until well-combined. Taste for salt and adjust if needed.
Add the Brussels sprouts to a 7” x 10” baking dish, or a dish of a similar size. Pour the cheesy sauce over the Brussels sprouts in an even layer. Sprinkle the pecan breadcrumbs over top, gently pressing them in with the back of a spoon, to adhere to the sauce. Bake for 40 minutes. Optionally, put under the broiler to brown the top for 1-2 minutes, or until golden. Serve warm. Reheat in the oven at 350° F (175° C).
Notes
If you have a high-speed blender like a Vitamix or Blendtec, no need to soak the cashews.
If you don’t have a food processor, you can still make the pecan breadcrumbs. Put the crackers in a ziploc bag (or a reusable silicone ziplock bag). Run a rolling pin over the bag to crush the crackers, until you achieve a breadcrumb consistency. Chop the pecans finely with a knife. Combine the crackers, pecans, grated garlic, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix to combine and proceed with the recipe directions.
Intuitive Cooking Takeaways
Leftovers of this dish make for really good Brussels sprout mac and cheese! Estimate how much macaroni to cook based on how much bake you have leftover. Cook the macaroni, reserving plenty of the starchy cooking water. Reheat the bake in the oven at 350° F (175° C). Mix the cooked macaroni with the bake leftovers, adding splashes of the starchy pasta water to loosen the sauce and get it to stick to the mac. Enjoy :)
I believe that giving some attention to cooking scraps, and utilizing them as much as possible before discarding/composting can be a big part of intuitive cooking. Exercising this kind of thinking, where you are always evaluating how to make the most of your ingredients develops creativity and resourcefulness, which leads to a strengthening of cooking intuition. It’s also really fun and satisfying to ‘make treasure out of trash!’ This can be saving scraps to make veggie broth, rescuing wilting herbs by making them into herb sauce, etc. In the case of this recipe, you can utilize the (often damaged) outer leaves of the Brussels sprouts that fall off in the process of trimming to make Brussels crisps. Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat and add enough olive oil or avocado oil to lightly coat the bottom. Add the Brussels leaves, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring often, until the Brussels leaves become crispy and golden in parts. Enjoy as a snack or use as a crunchy topping for soups, mashed potatoes, etc.
One of the questions I get asked the most is how to achieve a cheesy flavor in plant-based cooking without relying vegan cheese. This is THE question of all questions :) The flavor of cheese is complex and multidimensional, which is why we find it so satisfying, and also why it’s so difficult to replicate. Cheese is: fatty, salty, fermented/umami, sometimes a little acidic, sometimes a little sweet, creamy. So in order hit all these flavor and texture points, I usually combine a number of ingredients with those qualities. The cheesy sauce in this recipe illustrates how to build up that flavor really well. The cashews provide fat and creaminess, the miso and nutritional yeast contribute saltiness and umami, the mustard adds acidity and saltiness, and the maple syrup gives a touch of sweetness. The next time you need to add a ‘cheesy’ sort of complexity to something you’re cooking, consider some sort of combination of these ingredients to hit some or all of those flavor points.
The pecan breadcrumbs can be modified many different ways. You can use other nuts in place of the pecans (walnuts would be especially nice), and add spices or herbs (I’m thinking rosemary, sage, or thyme) to make them your own.