My swift tumbling into a head-over-heels, all-encompassing adoration of ramen. And consequently, izakayas, Japanese-style pubs. Which, consequently, led me to a deeper, disastrous, leave-no-trace, take-no-prisoners obsession with yakitori, which essentially led me to a personal mission of tasting each and every ramen in my path, no matter how inconvenient the excursion. My travel companions always thank me for my consideration.
This particular give-a-mouse-a-cookie stream of events led my mother and me to Two Ten Jack in Nashville, en route home from visiting my best friend for her baby shower (Welcome to the world, Theo! You stinkin’ cutie mess of cute), where our pretty badass waitress (“pretty badass”as in “pretty damn badass”, not as in “reasonably badass”) recommended we start with the crispy brussels, qualified only by their inclusion of shichimi and a miso vin.
And then I fell in love. Again. They were perfectly crispy and full of head-on umami, without being obnoxious; salty without being Death Valleying, lip-puckering, chapstick-applying; crunchy without being burnt or one-dimensional in texture. In other words, I had to recreate them.
While I wish I could combine the ramens of my absolute favorite izakaya, Robata in Memphis (noodles: perfect. tonkatsu broth: perfection. shredded mushrooms: perfection. egg marinade: perfection. egg itself: totally overcooked.) with the ramen at Two Ten Jack (egg itself: perfectly cooked. chashu: volleys back and forth with Robata for place as favorite, simply depending on the day), the crispy brussels were painfully good enough to force me to make several attempts at an adequate recreation. I used the basic flavor profile as the guiding light but wanted my version to be subtle and simple enough for a weeknight side.
What resulted was a dish I’ve been known to eat for lunch. And when I say ‘for lunch’, I mean, like.. as my lunch. And that, people, is the veritable litmus test of a vegetable dish’s deliciousness.
In fact, they’ll be gracing our Thanksgiving table this year, bringing a bit of life to a spread of classics (punctuated with a few exciting rookies) with the vaguely exotic depth of miso, balanced by the familiar butter and white wine. Simple, yet flavorful. Pretty much the best potential description of any dish, in my world.
These aren’t Bart Simpson’s brussel sprouts. Make them. You’ll love ’em.
Crispy Miso Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Ingredients
- 1 pound brussel sprouts
- 2 teaspoons neutral oil , like canola oil or a light olive oil
- kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon miso paste*
- 1 tablespoon butter , melted*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500ºF.
- Trim brussel sprouts: cut off root ends and slice in half for small- to medium-sized sprouts, slice into thirds for large sprouts.
- In a large bowl, toss with two teaspoons oil and a sprinkling of kosher salt. Spread evenly onto a baking sheet, sprouts cut-side down. Cover with foil and roast for minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix together dry white wine, miso paste, and melted butter until very smooth.
- After 10 minutes of roasting, remove baking sheet from oven and pour miso-butter mixture over sprouts. Toss to coat well. Use a spatula to spread sprouts back out evenly, trying to flip over as many as possible, so cut-sides are up. Return to oven and roast uncovered an additional 15 - 18 minutes, depending on how crispy/browned you like the sprouts. Remove from oven and serve immediately - they won't stay crisp for too long out of the oven.
Recipe Notes
*For vegan version, make sure you get a vegetarian miso paste (several include dashi in the paste for a super quick miso soup, and use Earth Balance vegan butter
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I ate a Two Ten Jack this December, and have been dreaming about these brussel sprouts ever since! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Woo! I love their food, and now I’m missing it.. I hope you try these!
OMG, stop, stop stop! Miso is my favorite ingredient in the entire world – thank you for creating this delicious side!
No! I will not stop! I will continue miso-roasting brussels until my dying day! Well, maybe, maybe not, but damn, you will love these!
Oh man – come visit me in SF and I’ll GLADLY go to any and all izakayas with you. In the meantime, I’m definitely making these for lunch this week! You sold it so that by the end I was drooling and sad I didn’t have these in front of me already. Pinning!
OK, I’ll come, but only if you promise you mean “all” izakayas…. because I’m gonna need to go to all of them. Alllllll of them. 😀
Ha!! You killed me with the “salty without being Death Valleying, lip-puckering, chapstick-applying”. Oh how we have all been there, more water waiter!! Why do you tease me with this thimble glass, why don’t you just fill up one of those ice buckets for me… Evil salty monsters you are.
Bahahahaha, I laughed out loud at this and really have no response that can match it so I’m just going to say… Evil salty monsters, we are coming. We are coming for you. For you, we are coming.
BRAHSSUUUUHLS. Just two days ago I roasted a 2 pound bag and split it with my BF. Gone in a matter of minutes. We typically roast them with balsamic, but I’m so eager to try them with miso! Pinny pinned pinned
If you love them roasted with balsamic, you will aaaaahhhdore them with miso. For serious. And yes, I ate them as my entire lunch a couple days ago – did I mention that? I’m glad there was no one around to witness, so, better post about it on the Internets.
I love brussels sprouts! But these look incredible! That steam on the picture, brilliant! They also look perfectly grilled, just the way I like them! Pinned!
Thanks Mira!! 🙂 Hope you make and like!
You made me want to eat brussel sprouts! And I am not a big fan of them 🙂
I definitely wouldn’t say they’re one of my favorite veggies, either, but like this, they’re so yummy! Thanks Thea 🙂
Omg Cheryl – you have brought Brussel Sprouts to an entire new level with this recipe! They are one of my fave veggies and I’m always looking for new ways to prepare them! Can’t wait to try your version out! Pinned!
Oooh, you will love this recipe if you love b. sprouts! I promise. They’re so satisfying, yum. Thanks Ceara! 😀
Roasted Brussels sprouts *and* miso?! Oh my yum. This shiz is getting made ASAP in my house.
Bahahaha, I am dying over your comment. Only food bloggers can talk about brussel sprouts as “this shiz”! 😀
These look and sound iiiinsane. The more char, the better is what I say!! Miso + white wine is a genius combination that I never would have thought of! Thank you for including a vegan option because I’m literally going to make them tomorrow with the bag of B sprouts I have in my fridge. 🙂
Is it super dorky that I want to somehow incorporate “insane in the membrane” in my comment? Yes.. and I should delete it.. but.. Anyway, I hope you make them and love them! They’re so satisfying for a tiny cabbage, truly.
The steam! The STEAM! coming off these Brussels totally pull me in. I want to know how you got that beautiful shot?! I love how you recreate the most delicious foods so beautifully and perfectly! And they are crispy! On my list! Thank you, Cheryl for another stellar recipe!
Oh man Traci THANKS! I feel like I can never get proper action shots and wish there were more steam and it were sharper, but I will totally take it!
Cheryl, this looks a great side dish for Thanksgiving dinner! Love it. Pinned!!
Thanks! I hope you like it 🙂 And my Thanksgiving guests too, for that matter!
Oooooh, I love that steam photo, I can almost smell it. Nice capture.
Thanks! I can never quite get as much steam, or as clear as I like it – maybe you should tackle that in one of your awesome styling/photography posts! 🙂
How funny that you mention that, I have steam planned for my December prop talk post!
Soooo now I need to start eating a whole lot of ramen, apparently! I’ve never had good ramen before, but Montreal is a good foodie city, so I’m sure I can find some once I’m back there. For now though – THESE!!! Omg.
Yum!! I have been trying to coax Marc into liking brussels sprouts, but he said I have to find a good recipe before he’ll bother with them. I guess this will be it. Perfect for our mini Thanksgiving. I hope I can find miso here 🙂