Brussels Sprout Melts

Happy Thanksgiving week! I've got a very fall recipe for you today. I'd love to say that this one was premeditated, but the reality is that I went to make mushroom toast with some mushrooms I really needed to use up, only to find that I was a couple of days too late (RIP mushrooms, you deserved better). Fortunately I had some Brussels sprouts from the farmers market (I wonder how many times I've said that exact phrase?), so I instead threw them on top of the bread I'd bought for the mushroom toast. It was delicious! Even my sister (a Brussels sprouts hater) said so. With such a ringing endorsement and a small ingredient list, I'd suggest you make this very soon (a light Thanksgiving lunch, perhaps?).

Brussels Sprout Melts
Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients
1 small or 1/2 large sweet onion
1 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper, to taste
15-20 medium Brussels sprouts

Olive oil, for the pan

Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

4 1/2-inch thick slices of hearty country bread

2 tbsp softened butter¹

Garlic salt (optional)²

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Cut the onion in half lengthwise and thinly slice into half moons. Add to a skillet over medium heat and cook until caramelized to your liking³. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
2. Preheat the broiler if yours is the type that needs preheating. While the onions cook, clean and dry the Brussels sprouts and thinly slice them crosswise (you don't even need to halve them, in which case you will essentially be cutting thin circles off the sprouts).
3. Add the Brussels sprouts to another skillet with a glug of olive oil over medium-high heat. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes, if desired, and season with salt and pepper.
4. Cook the sprouts, stirring often, until they are beginning to brown. Remove from heat and mix in the onions.
5. While the Brussels sprouts are cooking, spread the butter on the bread, sprinkle with garlic salt, if using, and run under the broiler to toast lightly⁴.
6. When the bread is toasted, pile on the Brussels sprout/onion mixture and top with the parmesan. Broil again until the cheese is melted and beginning to brown. Enjoy!

Notes:

1. I had some delicious garlic-chive butter that I made over the summer in my freezer, so I defrosted that and used it on the bread. It was delicious, and I'd recommend making some: add a pasted garlic clove and a few tbsp chopped chives to a softened stick of butter. Combine in a bowl and then re-shape into a stick. Roll in plastic wrap, seal in a ziploc bag, and store in the freezer.
2. If you don't have the aforementioned garlic butter, a nice sprinkling of garlic salt over the butter before broiling would be wonderful as well.
3. Caramelizing onions takes a long time! Some recipes will tell you 15-20 minutes, but that's simply not true. This is more like a 40-minute process. Fortunately, you can make them in advance and store them in the fridge for quite a while.
4. Even if you like your toast dark, don't overdo it here. The bread will go back under the broiler once it has the sandwich ingredients on it, and if you toast it too darkly at first, it will burn.