Brussels Sprouts Breakfast Bake

Brussels Sprouts Breakfast Bake - a nutritional alliteration

Today let's begin with a history of the brussels sprout:

A long time ago, someone somewhere really really ticked God off.
In retaliation He sent us brussels sprouts.
​The end.

Ok, I am somewhat kidding. I don't know how the brussels sprout came to be eaten by humans (^but I wouldn't rule out this explanation). I enjoy most vegetables but I have never been able to get alongside these vitamin-packed little morsels. So when someone mentioned to me that I should try this breakfast bake, my response in my head was, 'but my taste buds didn't do anything wrong.' 

The face of deep suspicion. At least my eyeliner is on point.

But paleo-ers have to continually expand our horizons if we want to keep our meals interesting, and this dish promised bacon so I figured, let's go for it. Worst outcome is that I make a mess and have to pick pieces of delicious bacon out and consume them individually. Darn. 

So I ventured forth and made this dish and it was an instant classic. Nobody is more surprised than me.

I will say that this is a dish which will easily take 25-30 minutes, so you'll want to either get the chopping and dicing out of the way ahead of time, or you'll want to save it for a weekend morning or even for dinner.
​Breakfast for Dinner is the unofficial slogan of paleo, after all​

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Ingredients:

12 ounces Brussels sprouts
4 thick slices of bacon (bonus if it's uncured and/or nitrate-free)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
3 large eggs
kosher salt
cracked black pepper

Directions:

1. Slice up your garlic, shallots, and sprouts. Set the garlic and shallots aside. To save time on the sprouts, chop each sprout into a few pieces and then toss them in the food processor and pulse for a couple of seconds at a time until you get the consistency you want. The consistency should look something like cabbage in cole slaw or veggies in moo shu, like this:

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2. Cook your bacon, then set it aside on a plate or paper towel but *do not* get rid of your bacon grease.
​3. Turn the burner to just under medium and toss your crushed garlic and chopped shallots into the still hot bacon grease and let it saute for 30 seconds-1 min. Savor the yummy aroma.

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4. Put your sprouts in the pan, add the apple cider vinegar, and stir everything together, then let sizzle/saute for 4-5 minutes, depending how tender you want your sprouts (we enjoyed leaving them with a bit of fiber/texture to them rather than cooking them to the point of thoroughly tender).

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5. Create a large well in the center of the pan and put the butter in it. Then crack your 3 eggs into it and put the lid on the pan.

6. Turn the heat back up to medium and cook your eggs until they are done to your preference, whether over easy or hard fried. 

7. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve immediately. This dish is full of flavor and has a slight crunch and leaves you feeling full and ready to go. Enjoy!!

That one shallot slice in front really wants to steal the show. Well, each part of this dish has a starring role and you can really taste each delicious part of it. (I can hardly believe I'm saying that about a brussels sprouts dish but here we are).