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Just found interesting notes from Naomi Pomeroy, famous for her work at Beast in Portland, Oregon. Not sure how much I can copy here without copyright violation: Long cooking vegetables is something of a lost art, Long cooking calls for a very low temperature and lots of olive oil to bring out all of the natural sweetness of the vegetable. I cannot overstate the importance of keeping the oil over very low heat Long-Cooked Green Beans | Naomi Pomeroy, Taste magazine

Two nights ago: Started with perfect Manhattans. This became penne with assorted mushrooms ( a la Marcella). Last night: A great version of Chicken Scarpariello, using Kenji's method of finishing the dish in the oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes. The chicken cooks through, while the skin becomes nice and crisp, as it cooks above the liquid below. A couple of caveats to Kenji's method: 1. There's no way this is a quick, easy, Tuesday night meal. I actually used chicken thighs which I had cut in half, salted, and rested in the refrigerator over 2 nights. Sure, you don't have to do that part, but it makes the dish measurably better. 2. There's no way I'd use 8 hot cherry peppers. The cherry peppers I get are really hot; 8 would make the dish inedible, in my opinion. Although I suppose you could use sweet cherry peppers, for a different version. Otherwise, go to town.

Breakfast of lazy champions, Sunday “hangover”* edition … Couple of extras … Spicy 🌶️ ___ * of course I wasn’t hung over. But my former self, that occasionally was, would have enjoyed this tremendously, too …

You can take the girl to fancy town but you can't make her fit in 😂. Special fried rice, satay chicken, rainbow beef, sweet and sour chicken and deep fried snackies. Photo taken after the child attacked. I'd rather stand in the rain for an uber eats outside a fancy hotel than go for a sit down meal. I can't get takeaway delivery at home, let alone a Chinese (ish)! This is luxury !

Pica pica (the Catalan version of tapas) … Everything from the fridge/freezer/cans, so just some deep frying and heating up to do: Jamon, chorizo, longaniza with cheese (bread not pictured), croquetes (jamon, chicken, salted cod), salmon pâtè, olives, meatballs in tomato sauce, shrimps with garlic & parsley, berberechos (cockles), goat cheese, fried chorizo. Enjoyed with the classic Blackbeards Ghost and a glass of red … No complaints 🤗

I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned Supermarket Woman, directed by Juzo Itami who directed Tampopo and starring Nobuko Miyamota who played Tampopo (The two were a married couple). While not a cooking movie, it is centred on a food store and the shenanigans of running one. The comedy, which came 11 years after Tampopo , focuses on the in-store rivalries as well as with the competition. It is a load of silly nonsense but a fun romp and certainly full of food.

Millenium hand and shrimp

I blanch in salt water and the chill in an ice bath before freezing. I can't say I've compared to other methods but the results are good

Fig and honey bread sounds fabulous!

Crivens!!

Fancy bottle. Very crisp.

I was answering the question about what to do with farmers market green beans. The Italians like long cooked beans and Hazan’s recipe calls for the beans to be cooked until “tender but firm”. Southern cooking also do beans as mentioned but the receipe i use from Lee Brothers Charleston Kitchen says to cook them uncovered for 30 min then covered for 45 min. So i think the first time you make them taste often and perhaps pull them just before you think they are the way you like them to account for reheat cooking. I don’t find them ‘mushy’. They are meltingly tender. 😁 Maybe make a small batch to see what you like best.

Yes, definitely among the "gone too soon" contingent.

Tonight was a grilled Brie and bacon on Izzio Bakery Fig and Honey bread that I got at Sprouts a few days ago.

I tried strawberries today and again, no seeds, just pure juice. After that I tried tomatoes with seeds left in and skins on a couple of them. Both had been previously frozen. Again, no seeds, no skin, just pure juice. I got really good peaches this year which I also froze after blanching and skinning. I hadn't thought to try juicing them but I will, just because I can. I also bought a couple of apples just to see how that works. Great fun. I'm keeping the machine.

She says she based it on this recipe: Za'atar roasted carrot dip - Serious Eats (clicky)

Ha, yes. My favourite author. I was lucky enough to meet him at primary school when he was part of a govt project to help promote reading for kids (I didn't need any encouragement, my face was buried in a book most of the time). We chatted for a couple of minutes and he told me "make sure you keep your eyes and your mind as wide as they are now". Wonderful man.

Another Pratchett fan among us, I see.

Annnnnd, back to pistachios. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-pistachios-and-pistachio-containing-products-recalled-due-salmonella-2

If my understanding is not wonky, there are two ways to cook green beans. One, short [fresh and crisp], and the other long [and softer]. I thought it was a "Southern" technique. But I don't really know –– hence my questions. @Kim Shook? @Shelby?

@Okanagancook do you mean green beans, or borlotti/kidney/other dried beans?

Aren't the beans mushy?

@Okanagancook, good to hear from you. I meant to ask you about oxtail, but I'll do that later... Back to the topic. Do you short the cook of the bean dish at all? I.e. if you expect to freeze the dish, you know it'll get more cooking when being reheated, so then do you cook the dish for less time? And can you quantify that?

We like slow long cooked beans with tomatoes, chopped onions and a few rashers of smoked bacon. Result is a lovely winter side dish from the freezer. How long to cook depends on your preference so taste often.

I always froze excess garden green beans 'uncooked - unblanched - whole - untrimmed' I would chill them, then spread very thin on a cooking / roasting sheet, into the freezer. my 'take' on IQF - put the frozen beans in a freezer zip lock. that way I could extract/cook as many as I needed. in my experience, cooked/boiled/steamed green beans become greenish mush when frozen-then-thawed....