On this cold Sunday, I had a bunch of food items I needed to use up, so I threw some potatoes and Brussels sprouts together. It came out surprisingly delicious so I thought I would share. I think the secret weapon was a mixture of spices, the star being a couple of fancy peppers, which I will share below.

• One pound potatoes, any kind
• One package Brussels sprouts
• Whatever herbs and spices you like (I used some fancy pepper to enhance the flavor, but you don’t have to)
• Salt and spice mixture I used:
  • Belem pepper (a fancy Brazilian pepper, see picture below)
  • Paprika
  • Fennel seeds
  • Nettle seeds (see bottom picture)
  • Zatar (also in picture below. From Wikipedia: Za’atar (/ˈzɑːtɑːr/ ZAH-tar; Arabic: زَعْتَر, IPA: [ˈzaʕtar]) is a culinary herb or family of herbs. It is also the name of a spice mixture that includes the herb along with toasted sesame seeds, dried sumac, often salt, as well as other spices.
  • Mustard seed
  • Dried Lemon Zest
  • Dried Parsley

Wash and peel potatoes, then bring to a boil in a pot. You can also leave the skins on, but for this recipe I peeled them.

Cook potatoes for 15 minutes, then add already-washed Brussels sprouts to the pot. Cook for 15 more minutes. Once the potatoes and sprouts are soft, turn off heat, add one cup of water and spices of your choice. Add more water if needed. Use a potato masher to mash everything together, and voila! A healthy, tasty meal. Very low fat, no gluten, no dairy, and LOADS of taste!

I was recently introduced to some fancy peppers. These are Voatsiperifery (try saying that 3x fast) and Belem pepper. And the pepper corns in the dish are called long pepper. You kind of need to know what you are doing with the fancier types, which i have no idea about. Yet.