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View ProfilesPublished March 27, 2021 at 6:00 a.m.
Because I grew up in Vermont, maple syrup holds a special place in my heart. One of my favorite recipes as a child was my grandmother's hot dogs with apples and maple syrup. A maple vinaigrette is one of my go-to salad dressings. Maple-roasted pecans? A delight. An antidote when my son, who is a type 1 diabetic, has low blood sugar? Mix some pure maple syrup in milk, and he's good to go. In my family, we are believers.
Recently, I made maple-roasted Brussels sprouts for lunch. My son smelled them and asked if he could have some. Of course I shared. He asked if there were more, to which I replied that I could make more. He proceeded to eat almost a whole pound of them by himself. This is my randomly picky child — who hates mayonnaise on sandwiches, who eschews raspberries on desserts, who thinks that mild is spicy — and he ate almost an entire pound of Brussels sprouts.
For this recipe, I decided to go all in with maple. Maple Brussels sprouts with maple pulled pork on flatbreads with a smoked Gouda sauce, topped with a maple-balsamic glaze. This recipe makes more than enough pork for the flatbreads, so you will have leftovers to use in sandwiches, pasta, or pulled pork mac and cheese.
I made the flatbreads from scratch, but you could use store-bought naan or another small flatbread. Nearly everything can be made ahead of time, then assembled and finished under the broiler when ready to serve.
I have a love of kitchen gadgetry, so I made my flatbread dough in my bread machine, my pork in the Instant Pot and the Brussels sprouts in the air fryer. Alternatively, you could make the flatbread dough in a stand mixer or by hand, the pork in an old-fashioned Crock-Pot, and the Brussels sprouts in the oven.
This recipe has a lot of steps, but trust me, it's worth it. It should go without saying that only the real maple syrup will do here. After all, it's sugaring season in Vermont.
(makes 8 flatbreads)
For the flatbread:
For the maple pulled pork:
For the maple Brussels sprouts:
For the smoked Gouda sauce:
For the maple-balsamic drizzle:
To make the flatbread dough:
For the maple pulled pork:
For the maple-roasted Brussels sprouts:
For the smoked Gouda sauce:
For the maple-balsamic drizzle:
This article was originally published in Seven Days' monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT.
Tags: Food + Drink Features, Kids VT, Mealtime, Recipe, recipes, Pulled Pork Flatbreads, Maple Brussel Sprouts, Kids VT
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