Between serving up his “Death by Duck” grilled cheese sandwich at this weekend's Grilled Cheese Invitational, preparing for a championship-defending rematch at this summer's Korean BBQ festival, and engineering weekly creations like pizza cheesesteaks and fried house-cured pickles at “New Order Mondays”, Beer Belly chef Wes Lieberher has been pretty busy. He took some time out this weekend to share with us a recipe for one of the most popular dishes at the Koreatown beer bar, which will be celebrating its one-year anniversary in a few weeks. Lieberher amps up the gastropub staple of roasted Brussels sprouts to maximalist levels by tossing in sliced pancetta, apples, and onion for a sweet-salty sauté.

Beer Belly Brussels

From: Beer Belly's Wes Lieberher.

Serves: 1-2

8 Brussels sprouts: “Halved with stems cut off and discarded.”

pancetta: “Cut yourself a nice thick slice then cube it up. If you bought some pre-sliced pancetta — don't worry, it's no big deal — just toss in a couple slices.”

sweet onion: “A small handful of julienned onion (if you can't julienne an onion, google search is your friend).”

kosher salt: “Please for the love of God never use iodized salt a.k.a. table salt a.k.a. the worst stuff ever.”

ground black pepper

dark brown sugar: “If you insist on golden brown, you're brussels will still love you.”

ground nutmeg: “That's all I got.”

1 apple: “I like organic Gala Apples but really do your thing. These will need to be brunoise cut, once again google search is your amigo.”

canola oil: “I like canola because its pretty neutral in flavor. You can use olive oil, but it will change the flavor of the dish.”

1. Coat an 8-inch sauté pan with canola oil. Put over medium flame, add your Brussels, onions, and pancetta. Add a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper.

2. When your brussels begin to brown, add a handful of your apple, then lightly sprinkle the entire contents of your pan with nutmeg. Make you are tossing this goodness around, ensuring everything is coming together.

3. Keep an eye on your Brussels. You'll want to get a nice brown on the bottoms, I prefer my Brussels a little crispy so once everything in your pan is browning you should be good to go.

4. Dump the contents of your pan into a mixing bowl, give it one big pinch of salt and two big pinches of brown sugar. Toss and plate it up. Taste and adjust your seasoning. Some people like it more salty, some people like it more sweet.

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