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This took some balls

 Tonight, I tried cooking with an ingredient I've never used before:

fresh, non-canned green beans. I used them as a side for some beef testicles.

My other veggies tonight were carrot, radish, onion, mushroom, red bell pepper, and garlic (also had some purslane for garnish). I sliced the carrot, radish, mushroom, and garlic and diced the bell pepper. I diced some of the onion and minced the rest. The garlic and minced onion went in one bowl, the carrot, radish, and diced onion went in the second, and the mushroom and bell pepper were in bowl number three.

I sliced one gonad ...lengthwise... and the other across...wise? I don't know; I chopped them jokers up. One was more like strips, the other was more like rings. Look at the pictures. I seasoned them with salt and pepper, then started frying them in some butter and olive oil.

Once the nuts were starting to brown, I flipped them and added in the onion and garlic. I let all of that fry up a bit more before emptying the pan into a bowl (covered the top with some foil to keep the heat in and avoid shrinkage).

I deglazed with some red wine (Apothic Red is my current kitchen red), then added in some butter and olive oil to cook up the green bean bowl. I seasoned with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes and sautéed everything together for a few minutes, then tossed in some balsamic vinegar and threw a lid on top to steam them some. Note that my lid does not fit my pan; this is what happens when you don't keep your cabinet organized and realize you need a lid halfway through cooking something. As long as it doesn't sit on the food, though, I don't care. Once the veggies finished caramelizing, I put them aside, reduced the heat, deglazed again with some more wine, added in some butter and olive oil, and did something similar (pretty much the same process sans the vinegar and pepper flakes, plus some parsley) with the mushroom and bell pepper.

Presentation was very utilitarian tonight: one corner held some stacked green bean medley, the opposite was mushrooms and peppers, and I laid the family jewels right down the middle, with the purslane sitting above them.

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