It’s easy to understand why canned vegetables don’t exactly make your mouth water. There is, however, a way to make those otherwise dull and boring canned veggies taste luxurious. The secret is brown butter. Browning the butter fills your kitchen with an intoxicating aroma that signals to everyone in the house that you’re cooking, distracting them from any cans they may see lying around. Then there’s the flavor — brought to you by golden, toasted milk solids that are suspended in a pool of pure butterfat. That, my friends, is the taste of luxury, and it obscures the more processed flavors you often find in canned vegetables. Two or three tablespoons of butter per can of vegetables should be enough. Place the unsalted butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. The water will foam and boil off, leaving the milk solids in the bottom of the pan. Keep cooking, swirling the butter, until they turn a deep amber color. Then add your canned vegetables to the pan and stir it all together. Season with salt and pepper to taste and you’ll never look at canned veggies the same. It works with peas, beans, potatoes, mushrooms, corn, hominy, carrots, and most other canned vegetables.
