Green Bean Casserole with Caramelized Onions

Green Bean Casserole is the kind of dish you see most often around the holidays.  Sadly, a lot of people associate the name with pitiful, mushy green beans in a gravy of canned mushroom soup with some sort of chemically-founded fried onion thing on top.  Sound like something you’ve seen before?  Well that’s not what we’re making here today.

There are a million reasons why preparing this dish from scratch is better, the most important of which is taste!  Fresh green beans, when prepared properly, should have a fresh yet substantial texture when you bite into them.  The sauce for this dish is complex, and is lower in calories than its commercial counterpart (canned soup.)  Canned vegetables are subjected to sustained heat in the process of preservation, which weakens their cell structure and renders them mushy and devoid of nutrients.  Canned soups are generally high in sodium, and usually contain monosodium glutamate, a.k.a. MSG.  MSG is a chemical that enhances flavor by tricking your brain into tasting something it doesn’t actually taste.  If you’re a regular reader, you know my feelings on eating chemicals (I’m not for it.)

Utilizing freshly harvested green beans makes this a spring and summer dish by nature.  Green bean plantings are generally staggered, so the crop will be available all summer long.  In LA, green beans are abundant at the market starting in early June, and lasting straight through the end of summer.

Green Bean Casserole can be made as a side, or it can be the main attraction.  It takes a little bit of prep and a few dishes, so I generally like to add a bit of pasta to it so it can stand alone for dinner.  If you wish to keep this as a bean-only casserole, just double the amount of beans and omit the pasta.  As always, when preparing dishes that take a little bit of time and effort, I like to double the recipe and freeze half for another time!  When stored properly in an airtight container, it should keep in the freezer for 2-3 months.  On that note, I want to remind you not to confuse effort with ease!  Put on your favorite radio program, pour yourself a glass of wine, and get ready for a relaxing hour of cooking.  This dish has a few more steps than your average simple casserole, but none are difficult (especially with these made-for-beginner, step by step instructions!)

I know my way around the kitchen, take me straight to the recipe!

Kitchen Tools (feel free to skip this if you already know your way around the kitchen):

–Medium to large soup pot for blanching beans (my soup pot holds 12 quarts, though a smaller pot will work fine as long as it is large enough for the beans to move freely in the water.)

–Colander

–4 quart pot for boiling pasta water (you can use the soup pot again once you’re done cooking the beans in it, though I prefer my thinner aluminum pots for cooking pasta, because they heat up faster and hold less water.)

-Sauté pan with a thick bottom (I use Cuisinart’s green gourmet non-stick skillet because it is versatile and allows me to cook with less oil than more traditional pans.  It is PTFE and PFOA free, and is one of the most environmentally friendly pans out there.)  I bought mine at bed bath with one of those 20% off coupons, and it was a steal!

-12×12 glass baking dish.  I like Pyrex myself, click here for a picture of what I use.

–Wooden stirring spoon with flat end

-Large bowl that can accommodate all of the beans plus some water and ice.

Ingredients (as always, I recommend buying locally produced organic ingredients, from your farmers market when possible):

The finished product

-1/2 lb fresh green beans, rinsed with tips cut off either end

-4 medium onions, ends cut off and peeled.  Cut it in half, then cut the halves into 1/4 inch thick slices

-1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced

-12 oz fresh button mushrooms, sliced (wild mushrooms work too, but since their flavor will blend into the sauce, I don’t recommend using anything too expensive.)

-4 TBSP butter (you can sub olive oil if you wish to sauté the mushrooms, but stick with butter for caramelizing the onions)

-3 medium to large cloves garlic, minced

-2-4 TBSP flour

-1 1/2 cup chicken stock (or vegetable stock)

-1/2 cup half and half (milk is fine too if that’s all you have on hand, as long as it’s 2% or greater milk fat)

-Approximately 3 cups of egg noodles, cooked just under al dente (you can substitute this for regular wheat pasta if you prefer, just don’t use long pasta like spaghetti.)

-1 large handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped

-Salt and fresh pepper to taste

Bring 6 quarts of water to a rolling boil in a medium to large soup pot.  Drop your rinsed and trimmed beans into the water for exactly 4 minutes.  While they blanch, fill a large bowl with cold water and one tray’s worth of ice cubes.  Drain beans immediately after 4 minutes, and submerge into ice water to stop the cooking process. Set aside.

Melt 2 TBSP butter in a sauté pan over medium-high heat, and add sliced onions.  Add the rosemary, and sprinkle with a pinch of salt (approx. 1/2 tsp) and a few cranks of freshly ground pepper.  Cook for 2 minutes on medium heats, stirring frequently, then drop the temperature down to medium low (hot enough to still hear them sizzle, not so hot that you burn the butter–better to start too low than too hot).  Stir every minute or so for about 15 minutes, or until onions are brown and mushy looking.  Be careful not to burn the onions or the butter, as this will cause the mixture to become bitter.  Empty the pan into a small bowl and set the onions aside.

Bring another pot of water (about 4-6 quarts) to a boil (the big pot you used for the beans will due, though I prefer a smaller pot with thinner metal that will allow the water to boil faster.)

Once your water is on, wipe out the sauté pan (no need to wash it, just wipe out any leftover onion bits so they don’t burn.)  Heat on medium-high with 2 Tbsp butter (or olive oil), and all of your sliced mushrooms.  Sauté for about 4 minutes stirring frequently until they begin to give up some of their moisture.  Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Sprinkle (do NOT dump!) 3 Tbsp flour over the mixture and stir to mix well.  Cook for one more minute stirring constantly, then add your stock slowly while stirring to incorporate.  If you add the stock too fast or don’t stir fast enough while you add it, the flour may start to create lumps in your sauce.  If this begins to happen, stop adding liquid for a moment and stir rapidly to smooth out the mixture.  If you end up with a few lumps, don’t worry about it.  Bring to a simmer, stirring often.  Once it simmers, add the half and half.  NOTE:  If you use milk instead of half and half, add another Tbsp of flour to your mushrooms before adding the stock to help thicken the final mixture.  Turn down the heat to medium-low, and cook for 6-8 minutes until the sauce thickens up a bit.  Add your fresh basil once the sauce has reached the proper consistency.  If you finish this step before your pasta is done (next step) simply turn off the heat and leave on the stove until your pasta is ready.  NOTE: if your sauce ends up looking a little thick, add another 1/4-1/2 cup of stock to it to loosen it up.  You want it to be just slightly thicker than the consistency of melted ice cream.

If you’re planning to eat this dish once it’s done (as opposed to freezing it or setting it aside for later), preheat your oven to 350 degrees now.

Your pasta water should be boiling by this point.  Add pasta and cook until almost al dente–I find that cooking for about 2 minutes less than suggested on the box usually works well, but you’ll want to test it a few times towards the end to be sure.  You want the pasta to have a slightly undercooked bite to it so that it won’t become soggy when you bake it with the sauce.

While you are waiting on your pasta, remove your beans from the ice bath.  If you’re in a rush, simply cutting them in half will due.  I like to slice them down the middle along their seam first, then cut them in half.  I find the texture of beans cut in this way is superior to the texture of whole beans.

Add the cooked beans, pasta, and 1/3 of your caramelized onions to the mushroom sauce.  Stir so that everything is evenly covered, then transfer into the 12×12 glass baking dish.  Spread the rest of the caramelized onions on top so they form an even cover.  Don’t worry if you don’t have enough to cover the whole top, just distribute them evenly.  Cover with aluminum foil, and place in your preheated oven to bake for about 15-20 minutes.  The thicker the sauce turned out, the less time you will need to bake.  If you ended up with a very thick sauce and pasta that is not undercooked (it happens!) then stick with 15 minutes in the oven.  Thinner sauces with under cooked pasta are better when cooked for closer to 25-30 minutes.

This dish can be refrigerated and baked a few hours later, cooked right away, or frozen for another time completely.  If you freeze it, be sure to thaw it in the fridge overnight and give it a good stir to mix it up before baking.  If it looks a little dry, you can add a touch of milk to it to loosen it up, but not too much or you run the risk of soggy pasta.  Microwaving can cause the cream to separate, so don’t even think about it!

I served this with a simple salad of baby greens, green onions, and balsamic vinaigrette.  Technically, there are enough veggies in this dish to call it a day, so salad is optional.

Bon Appetit!