I have a question for you: How many of you make green bean casserole for one of your side dishes for holiday meals? OK, one more question: how many of you use a canned mushroom soup for the base of said casserole? What if I was to tell you there is a way to make your green bean casserole without using the canned soup and yet it is absolutely just as simple but with way better flavor?
First, let’s take a quick look at the ingredients for green bean casserole. Of course, you have your beans, and then there is chicken stock, onions, butter, bread crumbs and that can of soup that has the cream and mushrooms in it. Now, let’s look at the ingredients you already have for your meal, specifically the gravy. Well, there are obviously no green beans in the gravy, but hey, there is chicken stock (or turkey stock, which is still a fowl), butter and mushrooms. It seems all that’s missing is the onion, which a lot of people will put in there gravy, the bread crumbs and maybe a little cream.
The bread crumbs are there in your kitchen already if you happen to be having stuffing. Whether you use stove top, Pepperidge farm, or seasoned croutons for your stuffing, all you need to do is take about a cup of the dried croutons and blend them up or simply put them in a baggy and crush them a little and there you go, bread crumbs, which also happen to be seasoned so you have more flavor already.
I’m guessing by now you can see where I’m going with this. All you have to do is add a little more mushrooms for your gravy and use that as your base. There also is probably cream in your refrigerator for coffee or, better yet, eggnog. The only thing you really need to do is sauté a little bit of onion; I like to use shallots.
As for the fried onions that go on the top? Instead of the canned French’s onions, if you get an onion, slice it as thin as possible, dust it with just a little flour and fry them in small batches until golden and stirring to keep them from sticking together in clumps, you will end up with great fried onions that are real. You can make the onions a couple days before and just keep them in a dry place. Have a Merry Christmas and great holiday season
Green Bean Casserole
1½ lbs. green beans, trimmed
10-15 mushrooms, sliced (add this to your regular mushroom gravy)
1½ C chicken stock (added to your normal gravy)
2 T butter
2 large shallots, sliced
½ C cream
1 C bread crumbs (crushed stuffing croutons)
½ C grated greyer
Blanch the green beans in lightly salted water and cool under cold water. Sauté the mushrooms and start your gravy as you would normally do. Add some sherry and let reduce until its almost gone before adding your stock. Bring to a boil and thicken as normal with roux. I will add more sherry to taste to the gravy, but I want to do that after I remove what I need for the casserole so they don’t taste the same and there is a little stronger mushroom flavor in the casserole.
Season as you normally do with salt, pepper, sage and poultry seasoning. Sauté the shallots in the butter until golden and mix well with the beans. Place the beans in your casserole dish. Heat the cream, add it to 1½ cups of the gravy, and pour it into the casserole and mix well. Stir in a small amount of your fried onions, top with the bread crumbs, then sprinkle with the grated cheese, and, lastly, the rest of the fried onions. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until golden and hot throughout.
