Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Fruits

We had the entire Johnson family and extended family over for what always turns out to be a fun time. The Johnson girls shared their scrapbooks and photos from their travels to Thailand, France and Africa. And the girls cooked us a Thai supper.

I cooked the lunch and everyone raved about the brussels sprouts dish, so I decided to post the recipe. Though I tend to make all recipes my own with my twists and variations, this recipe is from The Splendid Table, an NPR weekly radio show I listen to, I also subscribe to their weekly recipe email from www.splendidtable.publicradio.org/

I so crave this dish, that I make it often. Though we had it with ham that I baked with a mango chutney this week, we especially like it with grilled and smoked salmon. Monte dumps it on top of his salmon.

2 1/2 lbs brussels sprouts, halved if small or quartered if large
(A key when roasting vegetables is to have a lot of the ingredients chunked about the same size)
1 large onion, cut into 1-inch chunks
2 apples (any kind, I tend to use Granny Smith), cored and cut in 1-inch pieces
2 firm ripe Anjou or Comice pears, cored and cut
2-3 slices bacon, cut in pieces
1/2 tsp each thyme and sage (fresh is always best if you have it, and use more)
5-6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup good tasting extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp spicy red pepper flakes
1 Tb brown sugar (I use Sucanat - unprocessed sugar cane)
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Toss all together. Bake in a 450 degree oven on a very large shallow pan (I line it with foil). You want the mixture to spread into a single layer. Stir it a couple times. Bake about 40 minutes to an hour till nicely browned.

It, like the smoked salmon, is great leftover cold on lettuce as a salad.