Great first Winter Market of the season yesterday. Everyone had these big stalks of Brussels sprouts looking like exotic flowers. The day was quite foul and wet, so I was especially heartened to see such a great turnout, although I felt sorry for the dogs who were sitting outside in the rain, looking fairly miserable as they waited for their owners to finish the shopping, stop the chatting, and get them home to a nice dry spot by the fire.

Gelderman Farms was busy selling lots of ground pork because it was clearly a day for making meatloaf or Spaghetti with Meatloaf. There were samples of breads, cheeses, nougat and Crispin apples being handed out. I came home, unpacked my purchases, and made an absolutely fabulous lunch. Actually, I'm calling it a lunch but we ate it as a light early dinner before going to a party where we expected to consume quite a bit of cheese and chocolate.

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

• 6 slices Gelderman Farms double-smoked bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces.
  
• 1 shallot, peeled and chopped fine
• 400g Brussels sprouts (about 12-14 small sprouts)
• 2 1/2 Tbsp sour cream
• 1/4 cup fresh-grated Parmesan
• pinch salt
• fresh ground pepper

Serves 2 for lunch, with bread. Or 4 as a side dish for dinner.

Get a cast iron skillet hot and put the bacon pieces in. Cook for a few minutes, then add the shallot and give it a good stir. Trim the stem ends from the sprouts and slices them to create fine ribbons of sprouts. (I run them through the food processor's slicing function.) When the bacon is getting cripsy and the shallots are turning brown, add the sprouts and lower the heat to medium-low. Cook about 4 minutes. Then add the sour cream, stir well to mix, and add the parmesan. Season with a pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper to taste.

We had this side dish with thick slices of Bread Affair's sublime seed bread, lightly buttered. And held out our plates to ask for more.