How hot is it?

Hi all,

Here, it's not too hot at all.  Mark Twain was famously disappointed in Sunny California's summers - near the coast, at least.  It's chilly, sort of overcast and generally the type of weather that makes me want to fire up the oven.  And all you people on the east coast can stop throwing things at me now, and file this recipe for fall/winter.

I was craving mac and cheese, but I had a bag of beautiful baby brussel sprouts (about 1 1/2 cups), so I compromised.  I made a brussel sprout gratin.  First, I cooked the sprouts in lightly-salted boiling water for about 5-7 minutes until I could pierce them easily with a fork and they were bright green.  Then I dumped them into a colander and hit them with cold tap water for a minute or two to stop the cooking and keep the color fresh. 

I have several oven dishes that are safe to use on the stovetop, and I melted 1/2 tablespoon of butter in the bottom of one of them.  If your oven dishes are not burner-safe, put the butter in the dish and put it into your preheated, 375-degree oven for a minute or two.  Voila!

While the butter melted, I added 3/4 c. almond milk and 3/4 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese, along with freshly ground pepper, salt, and a little bit of freshly grated nutmeg to a bowl and added the brussel sprouts.  After tossing gently a few times, I poured the mixture into the melted butter in the baking dish.  I then topped it with about a tablespoon freshly grated parmesan cheese and 2 tablespoons panko breadcumbs.  I baked it, uncovered, for 15 minutes at 375 degrees, until the top just browned.  The dish was a little soupy, as most gratins call for heavy cream, but it was delicious nevertheless.  It could easily be poured over cooked rice or stirred into cooked pasta for a complete meal, too.

I'll be back tomorrow to start the red/white/blue challenge (or I should be - I fell asleep really, really early last night - rough week at the day job) -- until then, I'll see you at the market!