Brussels Sprouts

Buy small, tight sprouts around 1 to 1.5 inches with firm, bright green heads. Smaller ones are sweeter; big loose ones tend to be bitter and cook unevenly. If your store sells them still on the stalk, grab those as they stay fresh twice as long and the quality is noticeably better. Store unwashed in the fridge up to a week, then trim the dry stem end, pull off yellow outer leaves, and halve them right before cooking. Dry them well, wet sprouts won't crisp.

If you think you hate Brussels sprouts, you were probably served the boiled version as a kid. Boiling is the one method that makes them bitter and sulfurous and it wrecked this vegetable's reputation for a generation. Roasted is the move and if you do them at 400°F for about 25 minutes, cut side down, they turn sweet and nutty with crispy edges. Two rules matter: halve them so a flat surface touches the pan and give them space (crowded sprouts steam instead of brown). A drizzle of balsamic or hot honey at the end takes them from good to gone-in-five-minutes.