Ask a chef

[tyckspoon]

Thanks for the well wishes. I'm definitely feeling better, hopefully past the worst of it.

I had a job a couple years ago where it was standard practice to toss vegetables in a light coat of olive oil, add a dash of kosher salt +pepper, arrange them in an even layer in a sautee pan, let them sit on low heat until browned, flip them and brown them again. Don't stir, don't toss, just let them sit and brown. I still love it for green beans, Brussels sprouts, broccolini and other hearty vegetables if I'm looking to take it easy on myself in the kitchen.

Reminds me of an America's Test Kitchen treatment I like for green beans. It would probably work for most other vegetables that have a similar texture - I haven't tried it on anything else but it should just involve modifying the cook times to tenderize stuff like broccoli if you have stems in, or I would bet it works pretty much the same for florets only.

Heat a pan with a very light amount of oil. Saute your vegetable until the color brightens and it just begins to show browning. Throw a small amount of water in (it should immediately boil into steam) and clap a lid over it as fast as you can - the idea is to basically flash-steam the contents of the pan. Modify the amount of water here to control how thoroughly cooked the end product is.

Once all the water is converted to steam/after a couple minutes letting the steam run around the lidded pan, carefully take the lid off. Add some oil or butter into the hot pan and saute for another minute or so/until the vegetable is browned to your liking. Add your desired seasonings or a sauce/dressing/marinade instead of the fat during this step, and it will pretty much absorb directly into the beans for sauces or adhere very well as your cooking fat is taken up. Works wonderfully with things like soy sauce or teriyaki.

(Works best on fresh vegetables, can be done with good frozen ones as well - thaw them/deliberately undercook them from the bag first, then finish in the pan.)