There were many high points of the Foodbuzz blogger festival, but the blowout dinner from Outstanding in the Field, held in the "field" of the Greenleaf Produce Warehouse off Bayshore Avenue, was the uncontested star of the show. Dennis Lee of Namu led the effort in the kitchen, and turned out course after course of pan-asian-fusion food including mushroom dashi with three mushrooms, rare sea trout with crispy Japanese curry bits, and soy braised beef cheeks and oxtail. But the runaway star were the roasted brussels sprouts with ponzu-fried garlic, guanciale, and bonito flakes - a fusion of exotic Easern flavors, with humble European ingredients. Reverse engineering this delicacy became an obsession of ours and of several other food bloggers, and our best attempt follows. (A few other blogger have tried it too) and Foodbuzz also posted Lee's recipe here, but I think ours is a pretty good blind attempt.
We clearly remembered three things that we wanted to duplicate: a fully cooked but not mushy consistency on the Brussels sprouts, small pieces of crispy bacon, and a flavorful, slightly reduced sauce that coated the sprouts. We also wanted to replicate the deep umami flavor with some citrus. From that we devised a method: par-boil the Brussels sprouts (gently to keep them intact), crisp the bacon and garlic in a saute pan, deglaze with ponzu, then toss everything together and reduce the sauce somewhat before laying in a roasting pan to brown in the oven.
Roast Brussels sprouts with ponzu fried garlic, guanciale and bonito flakes
What's Guerrilla: Brussels Sprouts are expensive by the pound, but cabbage and pork dishes of all kinds are a mainstay of the Guerrilla Gourmet's project.
What's Gourmet: A bold fusion of European ingredients with exotic, earthy Asian flavors.
Materials:
1 lb Brussels Sprouts, stems trimmed and heads halved.
1 piece Guanciale, finely diced (an Italian specialty of pork jowls cured with plenty of spices.)
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tb citrus zest (I used tangerine)
3 tb of bonito flakes
3 tb ponzu (a citrus-flavored soy sauce)
Salt and pepper to taste (with all that ponzu and bacon, you really shouldn't need much salt)
Method:
1) Par-boil the Brussels sprouts in gently simmering water for 5-10 minutes. Check them frequently to prevent overcooking, and dump in an ice bath to arrest the process.
2) Cook the Guanciale gently in a large saute pan until it gets crisp, then pull it out with a slotted spoon.
3) Add more oil if the pan is dry, then crank up the heat and toss in the garlic and zest. When everything is fragrant, toss in the ponzu, zest and bonito flakes and scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the brown bits. Add the Brussels sprouts, stir to coat everything, and let the liquid simmer a bit.
3) Spread the sprouts and sauce out thinly in a large roasting pan and pop into a 400 degree oven for five minutes, then shake the pan, add the bacon back in, and give it five more minutes.
4) Serve over something starchy (in keeping with the fusion theme we had spaetzle) and enjoy!
Troubleshooting: The first time we did this we used 1/4 pounds of bacon (three pieces) and it was delicious, but pretty greasy. Also, the bacon ended up braising in the sauce and losing the crispness that we remembered, so in this recipe we pulled it out and reintroduced it at the end. Lee's method is totally different, and we'll definitely do it that way for next time, but we're still pretty proud of our attempt.
