The classic French blanch-and-cool technique I learned at Chez Panisse yields the kind of brilliant, picturesque vegetables we all want to see on restaurant plates. Long-cooked foods, on the other hand, fall firmly into the 'ugly but good' camp of the Tuscan cucina povera, where flavor far outshines looks.

Grilling used to make me nervous, but then I learned to view the fire as just another source of heat, no different from a stove or an oven.

The delicate sweetness of just-picked vegetables is always worth savoring.

Samin Nosrat Quotes