After waiting and waiting and waiting, I finally took the plunge. I went to Williams-Sonoma and purchased my first-ever Le Creuset Dutch oven. My grandma had given me a gift card that had a substantial amount of money on it for Williams-Sonoma, and when I walked into the store last Saturday, the 3.5 quart Le Creuset ovens were on sale. It couldn’t get any better for me in that regard. I had been wanting one of these for a while, but didn’t want to fork over upwards of $300 for the oven. I brought it home and started thinking about what I could cook in it the next day.

Me being silly, I didn’t take a picture of what I made because it smelled so good my husband and I just devoured it, but I made balsamic Brussels sprouts with bacon. They turned out delicious and I’ll be sure to take a picture of them next time, but you can see the Le Creuset Dutch oven I purchased at the store above.

Balsamic Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Ingredients

• 1 bag of Brussels sprouts (I used the pack purchased at Trader Joe’s)
• 1 small red or yellow onion, chopped
• 2-3 strips of bacon, chopped
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

To Prepare

1. Place Brussels sprouts in a microwave safe bowl. Fill the bowl with enough water that it’s covering the Brussels sprouts. Heat the bowl for 5 minutes (this will make the Brussels sprouts easier to cut).
2. While the sprouts are heating, take your 2-3 strips of bacon and chop them up to your liking. I did little rectangle size bits. Place to the side.
3. Once the Brussels sprouts are done, let it cool, then cut them in half and place in a bowl (they’ll cook better when they’re cut in half).
4. Put the dutch oven on your burner on medium heat. Pour olive oil over the bottom of the oven and sauté your onions.
   1. Option: Cook the bacon in the dutch oven first, so the bits get super crispy then remove and begin cooking the Brussels sprouts in the bacon grease so they soak up the flavor.
5. Once the onions have been caramelized, place your Brussels sprouts in the dutch oven and begin to sauté them, as well. Add your salt and pepper during this process to give them a little extra flavor.
6. Add a little of the balsamic vinegar to the sprouts and onions and place the cover on the dutch oven to let cook more thoroughly, about 3-minutes.
7. Remove cover, turn up the heat to medium-high and add the bacon bits. Make sure to mix often so they don’t stick to the bottom of dutch oven. Add the rest of the balsamic vinegar to coat the Brussels sprouts and the bacon. Once you see that the bacon is cooked and the Brussels sprouts have darkened, turn off burner and put the cover back on to let it cook a little more (another minute or two).
8. Remove from burner (be careful as Dutch oven heat easily).
9. Plate with chicken breast or on top of a salad.

I plan on making this again, so I’ll be sure to snap a photo next time. What’s your favorite thing to make in your Dutch oven? I’d love to know!

xoxo,

Leigh