Better Cock Your Pistols! Matt Houston on DVD!

Gary Green — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:10:58 +0000

In the wake of the 1980s CBS phenom that was Tom Selleck’s Magum P.I. came a barrage of detective/action series clones featuring sexy dudes with hairy chests and mustaches. One of my favorite of these clones, Matt Houston, hits stores today.

Matt Houston ran from 1982 to 1985 on ABC. I was pretty up on my tv actors back then and would watch anything featuring the deadly-sexy Pamela Hensley, who played Princess Ardala (outer space’s first drag queen) on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and guest-starred on just about everything else on the tube back then.

Lee Horsley was charming enough as Matt, sort of Magnum with only one third of the carbs. But more than anything, I tuned in regularly because of the catchy theme music and opening titles, which featured, along with Horsely and Hensley in action, more shots of motorized vehicles crashing into water than any other show to ever hit the air.

Matt was a rich Texas oil tycoon who dabbled in private investigating, mostly in Los Angeles (because Texas apparently has no crime). The format of the show was more or less the same week-in and week-out. In the opening scenes, a guest star with some degree of television fame (possibly Arte Johnson, possibly Lovey Howell) would get bumped off in the most inconceivable way possible. If Matt and his trusty platonic sidekick C.J. (Hensley) were not actually there to witness it, a friend of the deceased would find his or her way to Matt’s office to provide additional back story and put Matt on the case.

Matt would then proceed to question several other regular tv guest stars, some with careers on the way up and some on the way down, each seemingly with more than enough motive and opportunity to be the guilty party. Next, Matt meets up with a friend on the force who warns him that things are getting too hot and he should step aside and let the L.A.P.D. do the work. Matt refuses politely, but the next thing you know, someone’s shooting at him or tampering with his brakes, or slipping poison into his bourbon and… BOOM, now it’s PERSONAL.

A few more dialogue scenes and additional investigating provides Matt and C.J. with the clue they inevitably missed the first time around. Next up, a confrontation with the killer, usually someplace with numerous escape possibilities and/or an over-abundance of motorized vehicles with keys waiting in the ignition. Said criminal makes a run for it, chase ensues, and as stated above, usually ends up with a car going into a pool, a motorcycle into a jacuzi, a skateboard into a bathtub. Matt jumps into the water, grabs criminal by collar, fistfight ensues, criminal surrenders, rest of the cast catches up to the scene, Matt says something funny that skirts off the danger of his predicament. Cut to scenes from this Saturday’s Fantasy Island

And if the above isn’t enough to get you to Amazon.com this very minute, consider these action-packed episode summaries:

“Recipe for Murder” – A severed head in gelatin shocks a food critic who recognizes it as belonging to his partner.

“Joey’s Here” – Matt tries to discover why a robot would murder the brother of its genius creator.

‘The Purrfect Crime” – When a cat food mogul is found mauled to death by a domesticated tiger, his four ex-wives retain Matt’s services so they can receive proceeds the from the will.

Modern Family Oscar Ad

Gary Green — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:14:51 +0000

High point of the Oscars last night wasn’t Kathryn Bigelow, or Sandra Bullock, or Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin sharing a slanket, or even the parade of the dead, of which I am usually quite fond. No, the only thing that’s still ringing through my head today is the fantastic Modern Family ad that ran during the broadcast. Sofia Vergara makes me fall out of my chair. And have you seen her on talk shows? Not since Charo, I tell you.

Even without an appearance by old-time sheriff Manny, it’s still a riot. Modern Family has an amazing cast top to bottom. Easily, the best new network comedy on the air.

Oscar: The Worst of the Best

Gary Green — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:15:21 +0000

2007 Post Updated

Rotten Tomatoes has released its ranking of all Oscars winners for Best Picture from worst to best, based on critical consensus, and has named The Greatest Show on Earth as the Worst Best Picture ever!

“The Greatest Show on Earth is melodramatic, short on plot, excessively lengthy and bogged down with clichés, but not without a certain innocent charm.”

Has anyone ever seen this movie? Is it about a circus? Did a movie about the circus actually take home an Oscar for Best Picture?

Of the bottom ten pictures listed, I don’t think I’ve seen any. Sure, I’ve heard of The Great Ziegfeld but weren’t there a bunch of those Follies type movies made that also had the word Ziegfeld in the title? Aren’t they all pretty much the same… overhead shots of chorus girls in a circle with feather boas over their heads and then… boom! They drop their boas down to the floor so it looks like some goofy oversized flower opening up? That’s the oldest trick in the book

Crash is number 74! God, no one’s ever gonna get me to watch that movie. I wasn’t all Brokeback or anything, but no movie with Sandra Bullock in it should ever win anything (I may have to eat my words tonight).

#72 – Forrest Gump – “An overly sentimental film with a somewhat problematic message, but its sweetness and charm are occasionally enough to approximate true depth and grace.” Laura hates this flick. She refers to it as “that lame movie where Tom Hanks is ugly and stupid and he grows a long beard and runs all the way to Vietnam.”

#64 – Driving Miss Daisy – Everyone knocks this movie and Jessica Tandy for winning, but whenever I catch this movie playing on TBS, I always sit down and watch it, no matter how much of it I’ve missed. Of course, I do the same thing with My Fellow Americans and A Very Brady Sequel so maybe I don’t have much of a point.

#62 – Gigi – “Gaston, do you make love all the time?” (That’s for Laura)

#53 – The English Patient. I spent two and a half hours counting the teeny tiny light bulbs embedded in the floor of the theatre aisles. I’ll cover my tongue in honey and staple it to a beehive before I watch this cow stool again.

#52 – How Green Was My Valley – I took my friends Sean and Kirk to see this movie about a Welsh mining town because I love it so much, and they snickered through the whole thing! I’ve hated and looked down a little at Sean ever since. If you have a chance, rent it. It’ll be the best 5 hours of your life.

#50 – Ordinary People – This is one of those movies that I’ve only seen once and don’t plan on ever seeing again. Even though I loved it, it’s an ordeal – Mary Tyler Moore is a frigid bitch, Donald Sutherland is a eunoch, and Timothy Hutton wins an Oscar for barking through the family photo session. Creepy and sad. I don’t want to know that families like this exist.

#42 – American Beauty – Really good. Impressive family drama. I watch it every week. I especially like it when Sally Field’s character butts in and her kids drink wine and complain about her in the linen closet. Do I have the right series?

#41 – Terms of Endearment – I love the kid who plays Debra Winger’s first son during his earlier years because he totallly improvs lines through the whole thing and they kept them all in the movie. Who could forget his stunning delivery on “oops I dropped my gum.” Serious chops.

#40 – Ben Hur – I’m sick of hearing about the god-damn chariot race. I mean, I know I’ll be impressed if I ever see it, but is there anything else in this film worth mentioning? Ever? Plus, the cover of the DVD box is orange and I don’t like orange.

#38 – I didn’t really get why this movie about divorce was such a big deal when I saw it as a kid. But man did I freak when the kid falls off the monkey bars with his model airpline, and the glass from the little window cuts open his eye! I could totally relate to that.

#36 – Million Dollar Baby – I think this is the first movie I went and saw with my Million Dollar Baby, who if he ever becomes a drooling, tonge-biting drain on my fun, I will totally pull the plug on. Also, this movie would have been way cooler if instead of Hilary Swank, they used Mary-Kate Olsen.

#33 – Hamlet – Shakespeare is boring

#32 – Shakespeare in Love – see 33

#30 – The Lost Weekend – This story about addiction has not really aged all that well. Drink a martini and smoke a lot of dope before you watch it. Or just drink a martini, smoke a lot of dope and watch Xanadu.

#25 – The Sting – this movie bores me. They should have put a kid who says “Oops I dropped my gum” somewhere in it. Or maybe John Lithgow pulling up to another car that also just pulled up, honking and saying with an dopey over-excited grin, “We both got here at the same time!” Anyone? Anyone?

#24 – The Silence of the Lambs – Oscar winner or not, I don’t think I could come up with 23 films I like more than this one. Too bad they’ve sequelized it to death. The only thing left is “Kid Hannibal” on the Disney Channel.

#23 – It Happened One Night – this is one of the movies I would Netflix, look at sitting on the shelf for a week, send back, then Netflix again, and never watch. Why do I do that?

#20 – Patton – The only scene anyone ever shows is him talking in front of the great big American flag. Is there more to it? Seriously, have you ever seen another clip played when this movie is being referenced?

#19 – Unforgiven – love

#18 – Schindler’s List – I suppose if they didn’t put it this high, someone would start some kind of petition or something.

#16 – The French Connection – really smart action movie, gritty and real, excpet Gene Hackman’s first name is Popeye and no on ever makes a funny about it.

#15 – Amadeus – this is the first DVD I ever bought. I still haven’t opened it.

#13 – An American in Paris – I watched this for the first time the day after I watched Singin’ in the Rain for the first time and Rain is way better. The dancing and the music in Paris are amazing, and the film is gorgeous to look at, but the story sucks balls.

#12 – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – My hygeine teacher showed us this movie in high school. I don’t know what it had to do with hygeine. But that reminds me, if you have a friend named Jean, whenever you see him/her say “Hi Jean!” and then laugh. He/she will have no idea why.

#7 – The Best Years of Our Lives – Clearly a misprint, unless the judging panel was my grandma and her bingo pals.

#6 – Marty – Ernest Bornine is way better in The Poseiden Adventure when his girlfriend who doesn’t wear panties falls off the railing into the fiery water and he screams, “Linda! Linda! My Linda! Linda Linda! Linda! uh… line? Oh yeah… LIIIIINNNNDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAA!”

#5 – Rebecca – the birth of the nefarious lesbian housekeeper.

#3 – All About Eve – Still haven’t see The Godfather on here which means it’s #2 or #1

#2 – On the Waterfront – aw fuck,

#1 – The Flinstones in Viva Rock Vegas!

Just kidding. Yeah, it’s The Godfather Well, did I really need another list to tell me that eveyrone is ga-ga for The Godfather? I love the movie, but it was released in 1972. There hasn’t been a better Oscar-winner since then? Hmpf. Enjoy the Oscars tonight! I’ll be rooting for up or District 9 because I think they’re the only 2 of the 10 nominated films I saw.

Fried Chickpeas and Chorizo

Gary Green — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:24:07 +0000

Some meals lend themselves to discussion and critique. Not this meal. There was no time to speak because MG and I never put our utensils down. Once or twice, we might spontaneously erupt with an “Oh!” or even an ” Ohhhhhhh!” accentuated by a dramatic eye-roll or tummy rub, but that was about all we could muster from the time the plates left the kitchen to the point where we were wiping the final morsels from the corners of our lips.

This is comfort food any way you can consider it. It is so completely satisfying that the evening required nothing else – no television, no music. We just sat there, sated and smiling. The chickpeas are nice and crsipy, and soak up the spicy flavor of the chorizo with unadulterated gusto. The spinach and breadcrumbs add texture and color, but if you’re short on time, you could bypass them completely. MG and I were sneaking tastes of just the chickpeas and the chorizo as it cooked together, and it would have been more than enough for us.

Works fantastic as a dinner, a side dish, a late night guilty pleasure, breafast, any time of the day, really. I’m thinking wrapping it up in a pita with some tahini sauce might bring me closer to Jesus.

I’m not running out of things to say here. It was that good! The ingredients are inexpensive. It was incredibly easy to make. It poses beautifully for pictures.

The only one this meal did not do right by was my poor kitty, Z, who could smell something delicious but couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t appearing in his food bowl. Maybe next time, fatty.

Fried Chickpeas and Chorizo from The Minimalist

2 cups chickpeas, dried (if canned, washed and dried thoroughly between two paper towels)
1 stick chorizo
3/4 – 1 lb fresh spinach leaves
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced white onion

Warm about 1/4 cup of olive oil in a pan, and once heated toss in your chickpeas and your chorizo. Give it an additional mixing, but beyond that, you don’t want to stir too much. Just occasionally. The chroizo fat will slowly consume the chickpeas, which will turn a gorgoeus regal red and brown. Let cook for about 15 minutes. The chickpeas should turn nice and crispy. I gave it an additional few minutes of cook time, but 15 would have been just fine also.

Remove the chickpeas and chorizo from the pan and leave aside in a bowl. Add a little more olive oil to the pan and toss in the spinach leaves. Turn and stir regularly as they will cook down quite fast. The Minimalist also suggests about a 1/4 cup of sherry here, but I didn’t bother. I had already sampled the chickpeas and chorizo, so I knew I was not in for disappointment.

Add back in your chickpeas and chorizo, along with the onion and garlic. Cover with about 1 cup of bread crumbs

Cook it in the broiler for about 5-8 minutes. I could have gone a little longer. I would have liked the bread crumbs to brown a bit more, but at this point it was close to 10 in the evening and MG and I had been smelling this food cook for about 30 minutes.

Egg Salad

Gary Green — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:49:53 +0000

The list of things I’m going to try to get done in the next nine days I have away from work is overly-ambitious, so why not start with the little things, like this egg salad recipe I’ve been dreaming about since I discovered it at 80 Breakfasts a little over a week ago.

It’s been raining on and off outside, so it’s very very quiet and this meal is a good match for a quiet day because it’s a quiet meal to prepare. The rumble of boiling water, the tearing of eggshells from the hard-boiled meat, the small amount of chopping and the tink-a-tink of a fork whipping frantically around the contents in a glass bowl. That’s about it. Toast two slices of bread, lay out a few greens on them and cover with this delicious salad – a nice, savory balance of egg, bacon and onion, and watch with your favorite weekend TV fare (my selection – What’s My Line with mystery guest Hermione Gingold).

The problem I have had with making egg salad in the past is my tendency to throw in anything and everything I have on hand. I’m always worried that unless I do, it will end up just tasting like two pieces of bread crammed with egg and mayo. This recipe doesn’t involve a lot of players, but the dill and bacon take it a long way.

A couple of changes I made to the below recipe. I used canola mayonnaise which is lower in fat, leading to less post-meal guilt about the 4 full tablespoons. Also, I added about a tablespoon of chopped white onion because right now I have more onions than I know what to do with. This really is a terrific recipe, and I encourage you to head to 80 Breakfasts for more.

Egg Salad

6 hard boiled eggs
3 slices of bacon
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Chop the bacon and fry until crisp and golden. Drain cooked bacon on a plate lined with a paper towel.

Chop the hard boiled eggs into large chunks and place in a bowl. Add onion, dill, bacon and mayo to the bowl.

Sprinkle with salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste. Mix to your desired level of egg size and consistency.

Milk Chocolate Cookies and Crystal Bowersox

Gary Green — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:29:10 +0000

Here I sit on a Thursday night watching the Top 20 on this season’s Stridex Amateur Hour waiting for the pizza to arrive, bourbon and ginger in hand (some of you may know it as a Horse’s Neck – post coming soon). Ah, little Crystal Bowersox couldn’t look more uncomfortable singing along to the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling” with the forced peppy enthusiasm usually reserved for an Up With People concert or a parade float at Disneyland.

Crystal Bowersox is my new favorite on this season’s American Idol not just because of her singing, but also because I dig her name, even though I can’t remember it. Last night, she performed on the show, which many thought would not happen because of a last-minute trip to the hospital. While noticing MG reading the perfomance results later in the evening on his laptop (we chose the ABC comedy line-up of The Middle and Modern Family over Idol), I leaned over and and, “Hey, does it say anything about how that Kristina Crossbow did?” Close enough, right? In fact, I think I improved on her name. Now she can be an American Idol OR a James Bond hench-woman. You’re welcome, Crystal!

So… I like Crystal and all, and I hope she makes it through tonight, but to be honest, I don’t really care if she wins. I haven’t picked up the phone to vote for Idol in about five seasons. I’d rather spend the time these days making cookies in the kitchen.

And, in fact, there are a lot of cookies coming out of my oven these days. These Martha Stewart milk chocolate cookies are tough to beat if you’re looking for chewy and gooey with a just a hint of salt to offset the sweet and the burst of chocolate chunks in every other bite. These are the cookies you send your kids to school with if you want them to be more popular. These are the cookies you make for people who don’t quite make the cut on your Christmas present list, but that you still want to feel the love. And if you ever end up in a brutal break-up where mutual friends are at stake, meet the cookie that will keep your Scattergories party packed to the gills even after you’re single.

Recipe after the jump.

Milk Chocolate Cookies from Martha Stewart

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
8 ounces good quality milk chocolate (4 ounces coarsely chopped, 4 ounces cut into 1/4-inch chunks
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat over to 325F.

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

Melt 4 ounces coarsely chopped chocolate with the butter in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Let cool slightly.

Put chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until combined (Can you do it by hand? Yes, I did. It was tough on the forearm, but I don’t have a mixer).

Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in the flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks.

Using a 1 1/2 inch scoop, drop dough onto parchment paper-line baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.

Bake until cookies are flat and surfaces crack, about 15 minutes (cookies should be soft). Let cool. Makes approximately 3 dozen.

Anise Drop Cookies – The Cookie Erica Kane Prefers

Gary Green — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:51:25 +0000

So, some of you who watch daytime soaps may have heard that the cast and crew of All My Children recently re-located from New York to Los Angeles to save production dollars. They have, in fact, moved into the studio space right next to us, and as I write this, I am watching actors on television who we all now see on a regular basis roaming around the lot at work. I have had three Susan Lucci sightings in the last month, and last week the actor who plays Tad almost hit me in the parking lot with his car. Ah, glamorous Hollywood! Soap actors are a very good-looking bunch and have really brightened up the place (it’s not really the most glamorous lot in Los Angeles and I wish I could have seen the look on the faces of all the actors when they drove up for the first day. Seriously, in its worst corners, it looks much like a prison yard).

Over the years, I have checked in on the peeps of Pine Valley. My mom and older sisters watched the entire ABC daytime line-up when it reigned supreme, spearheaded by the Luke and Laura pairing on General Hospital. I remember when Jessie and Jenny ran off to New York. I remember when no one knew Adam Chandler had a mentally challenged brother who was imprisoned within the secret passages of the family mansion. I DON’T remember Erica shouting down the grizzly bear in the middle of the forest after a plane crash, but I DO vaguely remember her going behind her husband’s back and getting on the pill (I remember having no idea what “the pill” was) so she could secretly open her own fabulous disco in the late seventies (early eighties?). And me and about 300 other college students would gather around the big screen tv in the University Center every weekday in the early nineties when evil Natalie threw her virtuous and more elegant twin sister Natalie down a well, assumed her identity, and got impregnated by her sister’s husband.

Anyway, deep down, I have always been a bit of a secret star stalker, and I have been trying to devise ways to cross paths with the cast more so than I have thus far. I know, I know… they are there to work, not to be stared at, and I have to respect that. I wouldn’t want anyone bothering me unnecessarily during the day when there’s work to be done. But finally, there’s a little bit of larger-than-life glamour on the lot and I want to bask in it.

I’m thinking I should start leaving little treats next to the AMC stage doors. Maybe they’ll fall in love with my food and invite me over regularly to sit in on tapings, give my notes on story ideas, or, if I absolutely must, step in as an extra in a hospital scene, hanging out next to a vending machine in the waiting room and voicelessly chatting up a peppy nurse. Well, a guy can dream. It’s not like I’m asking them to put me at the head of a boardroom table and proclaim, “You’re all firrrreeeed!” with a sweeping hand gesture, though if they did I would not refuse.

These anise drop cookies could be my way in. They’re not overwhelming. They’re almost forgettable after the first bite, but then that anise extract kicks in (it’s the licorice-like flavoring you may detect in biscotti), and winds itself around you. You can down three or four before you actually realize how tasty they are – soft on the inside with a hardened shell-like covering on the outside. It strikes a nice balance between the subtle and the striking. It’s the perfect daytime actor’s cookie. Look for me quietly ambling through the halls at Pine Valley Hospital within the next four to five months.

Anise Drop Cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon anise extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

Put eggs in a bowl and whisk until fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar until incorporated. Mix in the anise extract, then mix in the flour mixture.

Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a coupler or a 1/2-inch plain tip. If you don’t have a pastry bag, simply transfer into a ziploc bag and cut a small hole in the corner and use as a pastry bag.

Pipe 1 3/4 inch rounds onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 1/2 inch apart.

Bake cookies, rotating halfway through, until tops crack and cookies are very pale, about 8-10 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool completely.

Am I Fat? February 2010

Gary Green — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:44:35 +0000

Do I need to introduce Z to Sara Rue? Thoughts?

Broadview Security: Hot A.J. Has Issues

Gary Green — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:23:03 +0000

Watch out for this guy!

He’s hot A.J. He will totally slither his way into your “Casey James Rules” American Idol party, eat all your onion dip, then come back to murder you! At least, that’s what the Broadview Security commercials want you to think. Have you seen these commercials? They all start off like a Gilmore Girls episode and end up like the Scream trilogy, complete with disorienting telephone ring. Still, that A.J.’s got a good head of hair. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to judge. He might have just forgotten his keys or wanted her coleslaw recipe.

Anyway, whenever I hear the words “It was really nice to meet you, A.J.” I come running into the living room to watch. I can’t be the only one.

Max Brenner’s Fudge Brownies

Gary Green — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:20:09 +0000

Before you read any further, I want to warn you that you should IN NO WAY be frightened off by the size of the portions this recipe requires. But you ain’t gonna get away with your standard little Barbie Dream House Brownie Pan if you brave forth and make these babies. I had to haul ass to the local Sur La Table to pick up the mammoth 18 x 13 jelly roll pan required to handle the sheer volume of this recipe.

We are talking about 32 OUNCES OF DARK CHOCOLATE! Do you know what 32 OUNCES OF DARK CHOCOLATE LOOKS LIKE? Well, I’m here to tell you…. it looks really really good! Once you’re done with the rough chopping, you’ll just want to dive into it and roll around. Add to that 6 EGGS, AN ENTIRE CUP OF HEAVY CREAM, 2 STICKS OF BUTTER (a1 cup) and a FULL TABLESPOON OF VANILLA EXTRACT, and you’ve got basically a brownie mattress coming out of the oven.

These brownies are meant to be shared with family, friends, co-workers, the homeless, birds and small forest creatures… and you’ll still have some left over for yourself. Additionally, do not ignore the rule about refrigerating over night. You may be tempted to eat them right out of the oven, but they are so fudgy they will crumble between your fingers. Let them gain some mass in your freezer overnight.

Super-major big pics below. Just click on each to enjoy the high-res richness!

Max Brenner’s Fudge Brownies from Bake or Break

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
32 ounces dark chocolate (approx. 70%), roughly chopped
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
6 large eggs, room temperature
1 & 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour, divided into 3/4 cup and 1/4 cup
1 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (or other nut)

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 13″x 18″ jelly-roll pan with parchment paper. Butter and flour the paper.

Place chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. Set aside. Place the butter and cream in a saucepan. Over medium, heat bring to a boil. Pour over chocolate and let sit about a minute or until chocolate begins to melt. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool.

Add vanilla extract to cooled chocolate mixture. Whisk in eggs, one at a time. Whisk in sugar.

Sift 3/4 cup flour and salt. Using a wooden spoon, stir into chocolate mixture until fully combined. Toss nuts with remaining 1/4 cup flour. Stir into batter.

Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake 28-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Allow brownies too cool. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.