[Emmie9999]

Hi all!

I HAVE to have green bean casserole during the holidays. I've been eating it since I was a child, and as frightened as I get of the sodium and such in all that canned food, I just have to "treat" myself on Thanksgiving. My in-laws all have a spoonful, all saying the same thing.

This year, I found a recipe for making this infamous concoction in a slightly different way. Other than canned chicken broth, it's all fresh ingredients. We had very few leftovers, and my father-in-law claimed them all! It's very easy to make, and I highly recommend it.

From the pages of Cook's Illustrated:

Classic Green Bean Casserole
11/2006

The components of the casserole can be prepared ahead of time. Store the bread-crumb topping in an airtight container in the refrigerator and combine with the onions just before cooking. Combine the beans and cooled sauce in a baking dish, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. To serve, remove the plastic wrap and heat the casserole in a 425-degree oven for 10 minutes, then add the topping and bake as directed. This recipe can be halved and baked in a 2-quart (or 8-inch-square) baking dish. If making a half batch, reduce the cooking time of the sauce in step 3 to about 6 minutes (1 3/4 cups) and the baking time in step 4 to 10 minutes.

Serves 10 to 12
Topping

4 slices white sandwich bread , each slice torn into quarters
2 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 cups canned fried onions (about 6 ounces)

Beans and Sauce

Table salt
2 pounds green beans , ends trimmed, and halved
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound white button mushrooms , stems trimmed, wiped clean, and broken into 1/2-inch pieces (see illustrations below)
3 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
Ground black pepper
3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups heavy cream


1. FOR THE TOPPING: Pulse bread, butter, salt, and pepper in food processor until mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about ten 1-second pulses. Transfer to large bowl and toss with onions; set aside.

2. FOR THE BEANS AND SAUCE: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Fill large bowl with ice water. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large Dutch oven. Add 2 tablespoons salt and beans. Cook beans until bright green and crisp-tender, about 6 minutes. Drain beans in colander and plunge immediately into ice water to stop cooking. Spread beans on paper-towel-lined baking sheet to drain.

3. Add butter to now-empty Dutch oven and melt over medium-high heat until foaming subsides. Add mushrooms, garlic, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper; cook until mushrooms release moisture and liquid evaporates, about 6 minutes. Add flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in broth and bring to simmer, stirring constantly. Add cream, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until sauce is thickened and reduced to 3 1/2 cups, about 12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Add green beans to sauce and stir until evenly coated. Arrange in even layer in 3-quart (or 13 by 9-inch) baking dish. Sprinkle with topping and bake until top is golden brown and sauce is bubbling around edges, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

[GardenOfDarwin]

I love Cook's Illustrated - suits my detail oriented and overly process oriented mind. Great pictures and great explanations. Answers the why's, how's and wherefores.

I also grew up with the Green Bean Casserole, in fact...just ate some a few days ago! That's a great sounding recipe. Unfortunately, due to my recipe following disability, I won't be able to try it, but I'll take your word for it. Thanks for typing it all out to share. Do you have nutrition info?

Susan

[Tigratrus]

MMmmmm... Sounds good! I love fresh green beans, costco has a really nice package of pre-ended green beans that they carry, at least here. They're great just as snacks.

Susan may not FOLLOW the recipe very closely, but she uses them for ideas all the time. Man... Eva's posting about her Birthday dinner with crab butter, and now a tasty green bean casserole. Too bad we left all the T-day leftovers at Susan's mom's house!

James

[Emmie9999]

Originally Posted by GardenOfDarwin

I love Cook's Illustrated - suits my detail oriented and overly process oriented mind. Great pictures and great explanations. Answers the why's, how's and wherefores.

I also grew up with the Green Bean Casserole, in fact...just ate some a few days ago! That's a great sounding recipe. Unfortunately, due to my recipe following disability, I won't be able to try it, but I'll take your word for it. Thanks for typing it all out to share. Do you have nutrition info?

Susan

Susan:

Fortunately, no, I have NO idea about the calories, fat content, sodium, etc. If I did, I probably wouldn't eat it, even once a year!

If anyone would like it, I can give it a shot on a search engine and see if I can give a breakdown. I know that homemade doesn't necessarily mean healthy, but I like the idea of using fresh things instead of canned, so I assume there are a tad more nutritious things in this than there are in the version made with canned soup. My family always used frozen green beans, but I recently found the original version, which called for canned green beans...the sodium levels must have been nuclear!

Susan, give this a try, you can give the kids the mushrooms to squoosh in their fingers! Honestly, that is how you are supposed to break them up for the sauce. It was fun!

James: I know what you mean about the leftovers, they are all at my DH's parents' house. Next year, we arrive with Tupperware!

Emmie

[kmcg]

You must have read my mind, Emmie! I was going to ask if anyone had a good recipe for a fresh version. As we were driving to our Thanksgiving dinner, my daughter said how excited she was to have "casserole." We all looked at her with a "huh?" expression, and she clarified that it was the green beans we have at Thanksgiving. Poor kid is 15 and it's the only casserole she's ever had! I had to disappoint the kids, though, because I had decided to change things up and make braised Belgian endive with proscuito and cream. Oh my, I'm in love with that dish. But next holiday, it's back to green bean casserole for sure.
Kathy

[DesignDiva]

LOL Kathy, I've never made green bean casserole from cans! I have only ever had it at someone else's house. I never understood why everyone thought tuna casserole was so easy, either, because I only ever made it with homemade white sauce. It wasn't until I was an adult that I found out about Cream of Mushroom soup!

I made Brussels sprouts with chestnuts and bacon for the green dish this year. It was yum.

[kmcg]

Ah, the cream of mushroom soup - when I was first out on my own I thought I had to have some in the cupboard at all times because that's what I grew up with. Eventually I realized the texture and the sound of it coming out of the can just didn't work for me

Your brussel sprouts sound delicious. I've never cooked with chestnuts - do you get fresh ones and roast them, or do they come in another form?
Kathy

[GardenOfDarwin]

Oh, chestnuts...I bought some at Trader Joes last year and have not yet figgled out what to do with them. Pre-roasted and vacuum packaged. Ideas? Perhaps a new thread?

Susan

[KitchenMom]

Susan, I had to LOL and come out of lurkdom for this one, because I have the same TJ's chestnuts sitting in my pull-out pantry, leftover from last year. My most recent plan, which I was going to do today, but have to put off, is to make a chestnut and mushroom soup. I don't have a recipe, I was just going sautee onions, add chicken stock and the chestnuts and simmer a while, probably with thyme and maybe a bay leaf, and maybe some porcini soaking liquid (if I decide to use porcini), then puree it, and add sauteed ****ake mushrooms. How can that be bad? If I try it, I'll let you know.

I'd also love Eva's recipe, except I'm the only one in the house who will eat brussel sprouts.

[DesignDiva]

I got the recipe from Williams-Sonoma. I used fresh chestnuts which I roasted in the oven for an hour...you need to cut an X in the flat side, then the shells peel back in the oven and you can get hte shells and inner skin off easily. If they don't come off easily, they need more heat.

Then I boiled them for a while, 10-15 minutes or so, drained, cooled and chopped. Put them in the stuffing and the sprouts.

For the sprouts all I did was dice up some bacon, render it crispy and then stirred in the chestnuts and sprouts cut in half. I added about 1/2 a cup of water a couple of times and covered to steam the sprouts, then simmered everything together. You can throw the whole concoction in a baking pan after the first steaming and roast them for half an hour if you want, I just wanted to do it on the stovetop the whole way.

edited to add: proportions are up to you, it didn't really seem to matter much in the finished dish if there was a lot of bacon and fewer chestnuts, just whatever flavor level you like would be fine.