Green Bean Casserole

It's getting close to the end, which means better dishes right?

Perhaps.

Well, I think this is a better dish and that is all that matters. This is part four of a five part series on my personal favorite Thanksgiving dishes. Parts one, two and three are a quick click away.

Part four of this little series covers one of my favorite holiday recipes: the green bean casserole.

Now for those of you that know me well, you should notice one thing that just doesn't make sense with this dish...

...I cannot stand mushrooms. I just don't like them. Period. With one exception.

The traditional green bean casserole made with Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup is one of my all time favorites. There is a mix of creamy sauce, savory vegetables and crunchy onions that come together in a wonderful way.

While the cranberry sauce demonstrated my purest ways when it comes to holiday traditional dinners, I am hoping to experiment with mushroomless cream sauces in the future. For now, it's all about tried and true. Follow after the jump for the recipe.

History

My version of the green bean casserole has had some revisions over the past few years since I began experimenting in the kitchen. For a tried and true recipe that is consumed by a good chunk of the American population during the holidays, go read the recipe off the back of either the French's French Fried Onions or Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup. I have made those before and they are easy and good. For my modified recipe continue below.

I have an interesting little fact about the French's French Fried Onions. My vast connections and networking have led me to an employee of French's parent company: Reckitt Benckiser. There is only one machine in existence that manufactures French's French Fried Onions and it is over 100 years old. It runs in batches once per year and makes the entire year's supply of French Fried Onions for the United States. If I recall correctly, about 90% of the supply is consumed in the month from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Looks like they are trying to expand their market with their new marketing campaign of adding "crunch" to any of your favorite dishes. I would, wouldn't you?

Anyways, back to the recipe at hand. This dish is not for your cholesterol conscious consumer. You can substitute low sodium or fat free soup or anything else that might make it more healthy. I did not.

Process

In this recipe, I use fresh green beans. You can use frozen or canned, you'll just have to prepare them a different way. Canned can just be drained and mixed with the soup right away. For frozen, follow the directions on the bag in lieu of the chicken broth step.

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and sauté the onions until tender and almost caramelized. 

During this time, bring the chicken broth to a boil in a large pot. Boil the green beans for about ten minutes. Once the green beans are done cooking, remove from the heat and drain. At this time you can mix the onions with the cooked green beans and the cream of mushroom soup. Season to your particular tastes. I prefer quite a bit of pepper so I threw in a good amount while I only used a pinch of salt and garlic powder.

The next step is to mix in the French fried onions. The traditional recipes calls for mixing all of the onions into the sauce. I prefer having more crunchy and crispy in my casserole so I split the fried onions in half and put half in the sauce and half on top. Mix in half of the French fried onions and pour the casserole into a baking dish. Spread the remainder onions on top and bake in the oven for twenty minutes. Don't worry too much about over-cooking or under-cooking casseroles, they are very robust and twenty minutes should be fine regardless of oven type.

Remove the casserole from the oven and spread the grated cheddar cheese on top. Plop the dish back into the oven until the cheese has melted. This should take about ten more minutes.






Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients

3/4 cup onions, diced
1/3 stick butter, unsalted
2 cups green beans, sliced
3 cups chicken broth
1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can French's French Fried Onions
1 cup sharp Cheddar, grated
pinch of Kosher salt
pinch of pepper
pinch of garlic powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt the butter in a large skillet and sauté the onions until almost caramelized. During this time, boil the green beans in the chicken broth for 10 minutes until tender. Drain the green beans.
2. Add the green beans and mushroom soup to the onions. Season with the salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Mix in half of the French fried onions.
3. Pour into a greased baking dish and cover the top with the remaining French fried onions. Bake for 20 minutes.
4. Top casserole with the grated cheddar and bake until the cheese has melted (about 10 minutes).