We eat a lot of cabbage and not enough Brussels sprouts around here, and when we do eat B.Sprouts, we pan fry them in butter until browned and braise them in cream. Why would we not? I got this idea from a cabbage recipe I'd always wanted to try, Deborah Madison's Cabbage and Rye Panade, which is a broth-y rather than creamy dish and and is served in soup bowls. I never made it, but I always loved the idea of having Rye bread/caraway seeds with the cabbage family; with a mustard Bechamel, some very good Swiss cheese, and ham (in this case, actually, pancetta) it seemed like the kind of vegetable gratin you could take to a baseball game--in a very fancy ballpark. I love the layers of flavors, and the fact that the sprouts maintain their mini-cabbage integrity.

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