Christmas recipe: Brussels sprouts and smashed pigs in blankets

Tom Booton, head chef at The Grill by Tom Booton at The Dorchester hotel in London, has put together a mouth-watering Christmas combination of sprouts, bacon and sausage – which are cooked on a Big Green Egg barbecue. The joy of this side dish is that you remove all of the sprout prep of Christmases gone by. No peeling and no cross-cutting the bottom.  

Serves: 4-6 people

• EGG set up: direct 
• Recommended charcoal: maple 
• EGG target temperature: 220°C 
• Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1kg Brussels sprouts, untrimmed 
• 300g sausage meat 
• 300g unsmoked lardons 
• handful of cooked chestnuts, chopped 
• handful of parsley 
• gravy: use Tom Booton's roasted rib of beef with bone marrow gravy recipe

Method

• Load and light your EGG and place the Stainless Steel Grid on top of the Fire Ring. Your target temperature is 220°C. 
• Place a skillet on the grid while the EGG is coming up to temperature, then add in a dash of vegetable oil. 
• While the pan and EGG are heating up, remove any damaged outer leaves from the sprouts and slice every sprout in half. They can be left whole or cut in quarters if they are small or enormous. 
• Take the sausage meat out of the fridge. With wet hands, take chestnut-sized pinches of the meat and roll into balls. 
• "Burp" the EGG and add your lardons to the pan. You're looking for the lardons to caramelise and crisp, flavouring the oil. 
• Place your sausage balls on the stainless steel grid to grill. 
• Once the lardons are crisp, lay your sprouts in the pan cut-side down. Do not stir. Close the dome and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, burping and opening occasionally to turn the meatballs. 
• When your meatballs are nicely coloured, add them to the skillet. By now the cut edges of the sprouts should also be nicely charred and caramelised. Don't worry if some bit look a little burnt: it all adds to the flavour. Add in your chopped chestnuts and give it all a good stir, smashing the meatballs as you go. 
• Add in your gravy and parsley. Combine, then simmer until the sauce has thickened and the brussels are nicely glazed. Serve.

Recipe from biggreenegg.com. Tom Booton's festive menu will be available at The Grill by Tom Booton at The Dorchester until the new year; dorchestercollection.com  Sign up for The Week's Food & Drink newsletter for recipes, reviews and recommendations.