Christmas Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts are a must at any Irish Christmas lunch, and made this way they will have your fussiest guest go for seconds!

Ingredients:

Half of a large blond onion

2 nets of brussels sprouts

4 narrow smoked streaky rashers

75 gr (half a bag) of cooked chestnuts

Vegetable oil

Method:

This recipe is at its best if you boil the sprouts (leave them al dente) the night before. Before boiling, when cleaning the sprouts make sure you leave them with part of the stalk, as otherwise the water will enter the sprouts core and they will become all mushy.

The sprouts need to be throughly dry, so once drained well lay them down evenly on a baking tray which you have lined with a thick cotton teatowel to absorb the mosture. Leave them like this for at least 2 hours, then you can store them in an uncovered plastic tub in the fridge until you are ready.

On the day, take the sprouts out of the fridge 2 hours in advance to allow them to come to room temperature.

In the meantime cut the rashers in chunky bite size pieces, and cut the onion in small (but not tiny!) dices.

Fry the onions and the rashers in a little vegetable oil at a medium temperature in a large non-stick pan, covered with a tight lid. Stir frequently and as soon as the onion is cooked and the rashers have rendered and appear cooked, add the sprouts (cut in half if they are too big) and the chestnuts.

Stir well, and leave them to fry up at the same temperature and with the lid closed.

Ensure to stir them every 5 minutes carefully to ensure nothing sticks to the pan.

After 15-20 minutes the sprouts would have finished cooking and have absorbed all the flavours.

Ready!