Brussels Sprouts & Gruyere Galette with Truffle Honey + What’s Your Cooking Mindset?
Cooking is a choice but so is how we perceive it.
Thinly sliced Brussels sprouts are tossed with brown butter, vinegar and gruyere cheese, then are baked into an easy, buttery (gluten-free) galette. A drizzle of truffle honey provides a sweet, umami-kissed finish.
Hello my dears!
I’ve been thinking a lot about cooking lately, and how sometimes the smallest of shifts can make the process of feeding ourselves more enjoyable. I’m assuming that you’re reading this newsletter because you like food, or maybe you like cooking, or maybe you want to like cooking. As long as we have the privilege of food access and a bit of time, we have the power to decide how cooking will look for us, personally. We can see it as a burden, or we can shift our mindset to see cooking as an opportunity for something richer, even if we’re simply slathering peanut butter on bread.
There’s no doubt that cooking for ourselves and our families is work. It requires time and effort, and in the past, this work was not acknowledged and fell almost exclusively on the shoulders of women. As I talked about in this post, by denying that cooking is work and portraying it as “love,” women were stripped of choice (in my podcast conversation with , she explained that when cooking and domestic work in general are viewed as non-work, they can’t be consented to or refused). Cooking was wrapped up in societal perceptions of morality and what it means to be a “good” wife or caregiver, and this legacy continues. It’s critical that we see it and name it so that we can dismantle it.
On the flip side, however, modern day discourse often insists that cooking is a burden. The pendulum has swung. We live busy lives and the promise of quick, easy, and convenient is the new gospel. However, if we view cooking as a burden, then, unfortunately, it will become just that. A burden.
Instead of falling into other people’s stories about Cooking as Work or Cooking as Love, however, we can redefine it for ourselves. If we can release ourselves from societal expectations or projections of what cooking means, then we can choose how cooking will look and feel in our lives, in a way that supports us right now.
This is not a binary situation or a perfect practice, and there’s no right or wrong way to “cook”—some meals might actually involve very little cooking at all! In fact, I’ll go as far as to say that it doesn’t matter what you’re preparing. Whether you’re making a peanut butter sandwich, or cheese quesadilla, or a roast chicken, you can view the process as a chore, or you can invite it to be a source of nourishment. Cooking can become an act of self care, or a time to tune into with your body, or an exploration of pleasure, or [… fill-in-the-blank…]. The point is that you get to choose your cooking mindset.
Recently I was complaining to a friend about having to drive my kids all over the place for their activities, and she said, “What if you saw it as an opportunity for one-on-one time instead?” Her words stopped me dead in my tracks. I could continue to see the driving as a chore, or I could see it as a time for connection. Since then I’ve had some incredible conversations with my girls on the way to and from their practices and classes. It doesn’t happen every time, but when I remember to set an intention for our car rides to be an opportunity for connection—even if we’re not talking at all—there’s so much more satisfaction to be found.
Yes, there will be days when feeding ourselves and our families will feel mundane or exhausting. There will be nights when we choose take-out or frozen pizzas over cooking. And there will be whole seasons of life when getting dinner on the table will feel like a challenge (hello parents of young children and over-worked adults!) and even seasons when we need a break from the kitchen altogether (some of my mom’s girlfriends are basking in the freedom of not feeding their families for the first time ever). That’s okay!
Cooking is not a moral act or a sign of virtue. It’s not something we do to prove our worth. It is work, but it’s a kind of work can be richly rewarding, if we invite it, even if we’re simply toasting a bagel. As recently wrote in her newsletter:
Cooking is daily self care and also the ultimate act of empowerment. Cooking dinner is not heroic or special, it is just life.
We all must eat. While there’s no shortage of convenience foods available, many of us will choose to cook, perhaps because we’re on a budget, or because we have specific preferences or intolerances, or because we’re passionate about the environment, or because we like certain foods, or for health reasons, or because we enjoy it. How do you want cooking to feel in your life? You, my dear, get to decide.
If you’re finding cooking burdensome, perhaps there’s a mindset shift you can make to bring more ease, grace or joy in the kitchen. How do you want the cooking experience to feel? Nourishing, empowering, relaxing, fun? Set an intention to invite that feeling (“I invite this cooking process to feel ____”). Breathe into it. Even if it doesn’t happen, you’re creating the potential. And like anything else in life, the more you practice this mindset shift, the easier it becomes (ritual and intention can help).
Work with me!
I can’t express how amazing it’s been to work with some of you in my one-on-one sessions—they’ve already become the most cherished moments of my week. If you’d like help in finding more freedom as both a cook and eater, I’d love to support you in uncovering your challenges/blocks, discovering your unique digestion, tapping into your intuition, and creating meaningful shifts. You can learn more at the links below (paid subscribers receive 20% off all sessions!).
Brussels Sprouts Galette
I started thinking about making a Brussels sprouts galette after my podcast conversation with , when he mentioned using Brussels sprouts in a galette—I was instantly intrigued. While I’ve made savory galettes and pies with butternut squash, spinach, and eggs, I had never made one with sprouts before! After a bit of experimenting, here we are, and I’m smitten.
With this galette I was aiming for a balance of EASE and FLAVOR. Instead of having to pre-cook the Brussels sprouts, they get thinly sliced and tossed with a warm brown butter vinegar sauce, which helps them start to soften. A pile of shredded Gruyere cheese gets folded in, then the sprouts are piled directly onto a round of pie dough. I use this this foolproof pie crust, which can be made gluten-free (as shown in these photos).
As the galette cooks the crust turns golden and flaky, hugging the cheesy, roasted sprouts in a crispy embrace. For even more flavor (without effort!), the cooled galette gets drizzled with truffle honey before serving, providing an umami-sweet contrast to the bitter sprouts (you could use regular honey and truffle oil instead, or skip this step, but it’s highly encouraged).
Recipe tips:
I use the slicing disk of my food processor to thinly slice the Brussels sprouts, which takes seconds, but you could slice them with a sharp knife instead.
You can make the pie dough months ahead and freeze it, making the galette much more streamlined (defrost the disk of dough overnight in the fridge or on the counter). The recipe makes two 9-inch disks, so freeze the second disk for another pie down the line, or use it to make an apple galette, butternut squash galette or quiche!
Since the dough is rolled out and baked on the same piece of parchment paper, there’s no need to worry about transferring the galette. (These pre-cut parchment sheets are one of my favorite kitchen shortcuts.)
Truffle honey is a bit of an investment, but it’s an easy way to provide instant opulence to this galette and other dishes (you could also use a drizzle of regular honey and truffle oil). Try it on this Whipped Ricotta Crostini (perhaps with some roasted mushrooms or fresh figs) for a super simple appetizer. It’s also great on cheese boards, over white pizzas, and on grilled cheese sandwiches (especially with gruyere or brie).
The galette makes for a beautiful vegetarian main dish, or you can slice it into wedges as an appetizer or side dish… Thanksgiving is coming!
If you’d like to get more pie recipes, I’m offering a discount on my Mastering Gluten-Free Pie Making Class in preparation for the holidays! In the class you’ll master pie dough, learn foolproof pie making techniques, get exclusive recipes, and discover the pleasure in making pies from scratch. Use the code THANKSGIVING at check-out to get a 30% discount.
Today’s recipe is for paid subscribers, who make all of this work possible. If you’d like to hop over, I’m offering a 20% discount on paid subscriptions all month long!!
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