Cheat's Green Bean Casserole

After all my whining about the weather, it is confirmed that I am correct. It has been the hottest October EVER. Well, for five years. But it has felt like forever. It looks like we may have survived, and won't have to wear swimsuits for Halloween, though, with cooler weather forcasted for the next five days.

But all the hot weather has made cooking in my wonderful kitchen very challenging. My wonderful house holds heat like nothing you can believe and if I boil a cup of water for tea we need the AC until mid-night. Therefore, I have become a combatant. My cooking has been very creative and has led to some wonderful discoveries.

One of the main dinners I have been cooking off and on has been variations on chicken roasted outside on the gas bbq - my "outdoor" kitchen. The free-range chicken is popped into a disposable roasting pan, set in the middle of the Q, with the burners on to both sides (but not directly under the pan), with the lid closed. This gives a reliable cooking temp of 400F and you have a wonderful and juicy, perfectly roasted chicken in just over an hour. I usually roast Frankenchickens of around 6 lbs, so that takes closer to 90 minutes. But cook in the usual way, until the juices run clear, and make sure to let it rest a good ten minutes before you carve.

My discovery last night was the result of wanting green beans (gorgeous creatures I found at the chinese market for 59 cents a pound - while they are $2 a lb at Vons/Ralphs) to go with said chicken. But I didn't want to boil a huge pot of water, in or out of the kitchen, and I really didn't want to cook these beautiful beans to a mush, which is how the philistines I feed prefer them.

Therefore, out came the handy-dandy electric skillet, which can cook an absolutely amazing array of dishes without heating the kitchen. It is incongruous to see my $9 electric skillet sitting on my divine 4-burner gas Viking, but it's HOT, and I'm not going to use my precious until it's not.

I turned the skillet on full blast - 400F and added a coarsely chopped onion. Once that was going I tossed in a couple of pounds of cleaned beans and then added a couple tablespoons of olive oil, a scattering of sea salt and several grinds of pepper. I came back several times to shake the skillet (hold the lid on firmly with pot holders) to make sure everything got its turn on the direct heat end of the business. I continued cooking until the onions and the beans were more or less carmelized.

They were a huge hit - and everyone noted how they tasted like a new and improved version of the dreaded green bean casserole. With no dubious chemicals, and probably one-quarter the calories. So, out of the belly of the horrible weather has come something good, a side dish I know I will make many, many times. Try it, you'll like it!

The picture is from Sue Steiner Gallery, link below. She also does great sunflowers.

www.suesteiner.com/gallery/4129/Florals,%20St...