We’re going to use our time during this end-of-year lull to feature what we made for our Christmas dinner this year! Today we’ll show you how we cooked up a homemade, slightly elevated version of a holiday classic: green bean casserole. This dish is a staple in many American homes during Thanksgiving and Christmas, and while we really like this casserole, it’s a little disconcerting to see it made in its traditional form with lots of pre-packaged ingredients – namely, canned green beans, a box of French’s fried onions, and some gloopy cream of mushroom soup. So we were delighted to find this recipe from Bon Appétit, which lets you make this holiday classic entirely from scratch. We adapted it for ourselves, and we’ll show you how to make it here.
You’ll need:
- 2 pounds of green beans
- Olive oil
- A pound of mushrooms
- Butter
- Thyme
- Flour
- Milk
- Heavy cream
- Garlic
- Parmesan cheese
- 8 shallots
- Vegetable oil
You’ll first want to make the fried shallot topping: use a mandoline slicer to cut your shallots into very thin rings, then place them in a large cast iron skillet. Pour in enough vegetable oil to cover them in the skillet …
… then over medium-low heat cook the shallots for about 20 minutes, stirring them around frequently with a fork, until they’re browned and fried. Watch them carefully so they don’t overcook and burn, and when they’re ready use a strainer to lift them out of the oil and place on a plate lined with 3 paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and set them aside to cool.
Next, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and drop in half of your beans to cook for 3 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to get them out and transfer to a cutting board, then do the same with the rest of the beans. Once they’re all cooled off, trim the ends of the beans.
Meanwhile, slice up all your mushrooms, and in the same pan you fried the shallots warm a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Drop in half your mushrooms and let them cook, stirring occasionally, for around 5 minutes, then add 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan and 2 thyme sprigs and cook for another 4 minutes, stirring some more, until the mushrooms are wilted and dark brown. Fish the mushrooms out, sprinkle them with salt, and set aside, then repeat this process with the rest of the mushrooms and an additional tablespoon of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. Once all the mushrooms are cooked, take out the thyme, then place all your green beans into the bottom of a large casserole dish and sprinkle the mushrooms on top.
Now you’re going to make a sauce for the casserole by melting 2 tablespoons of butter in a pot over medium-low heat. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of flour, then 1 1/4 cups of milk, then a cup of cream. Bring the heat up to medium-high until the sauce reaches a simmer, then continue cooking for about 5 minutes until it’s thickened. Take the pot off the heat and grate in 4 garlic cloves, then stir in 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan. Pour this sauce over the green beans and mushrooms.
Cover the baking dish with foil and cook at 375°F for 25 minutes, then take the foil off and cook for another 15 minutes. Finally, scatter the fried shallots over the top of the casserole and bake for 3 more minutes.
Once the casserole is out of the oven and has cooled a little, you can scoop it up to serve!
It was really great being able to prepare a green bean casserole using fresh ingredients, because we look forward to eating this every holiday season but feel a little weird making it from a bunch of processed ingredients. This version isn’t simple – cutting all the veggies (especially the green beans) takes time, and then you have to individually cook the shallots and the green beans and the mushrooms – but the result is home cooked and delicious. The mushrooms add a great flavor to the beans, and the creamy, cheese-accented sauce pulls everything together, plus the delicate fried shallots on top give a nice crunch. All in all it’s a great vegetarian dish for the holidays, and you can feel good about eating this warm and creamy side because you’ve put in all the effort to make it entirely for yourself.