Green Bean Casserole

Lots of folks love green bean casserole and don't consider it a holiday meal if that particular dish isn't on the table. I'm not one of those people. Up until this year, I hadn't tasted the dreaded green bean/soupy mess mixture for years and would have been perfectly content to let the rest of my life go by in the same green bean casserole-less state.

What changed my mind and made me search for a recipe I could tolerate was knowing that Gianne loves this same concoction I detest. In fact, I'd heard her tell someone that she didn't consider it a true holiday meal unless a green bean casserole showed up on her plate. Normally, I might've asked her to bring her version to the Christmas Eve dinner we were sharing with her family but how do you ask someone living with five people and two dogs in a hotel room to cook up a holiday dish? After selling their house right after Thanksgiving, the C family had been holed up in their tiny room at the Chase Suites, waiting to pack up the car and start the long drive to Washington state on...CHRISTMAS DAY! All of the details of their suddenly nomadic existence made my heart hurt. It also compelled me to try to create a beautiful Christmas Eve meal that would include their favorite foods...right down to the dreaded green bean casserole.

Not having made this dish in...pretty much forever, I asked Gianne what version she liked. Given a sketchy outline of what constituted a perfect green bean casserole in her eyes, I started searching the internet and found this version. Remarkably, I actually kind of liked how it turned out. Gone is the gloppy soup mixture I remember being the binding component of long ago casseroles. Instead, you get a less heavy cream sauce and LOTS OF ONIONS. How can you go wrong with a heavy layer of those crunchy Durkey onions?????

Now that Gianne and family are safely in their new home on the other side of the country, I doubt they will be coming to future holiday dinners here in Parkville, but I may well try this dish again, come Easter, or Thanksgiving, or Christmas 2017. And I'll think of my sweet friend.


THE BEST GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE
Recipe courtesy of the Novice Chef blog
INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1.5 pounds fresh green beans, rinsed and ends trimmed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 - 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
6 oz french fried onions

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9x13 casserole dish, set aside.
Blanch the beans: In a large pot, bring about a gallon of water and 2 tablespoons of salt to a boil. Add the green beans and boil for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and immediately plunge the beans into a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain and set aside.
Melt butter in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and onions, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to soften, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper and continue to cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
Sprinkle in the flour and stir to combine. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and stir to combine. Then add the half and half and simmer until the mixture thickens, stirring occasionally, approximately 6 to 8 minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in all of the green beans. Transfer green bean mixture to prepared casserole dish. Top with the bread crumbs and then layer the french fried onions on top.
Place casserole in the oven and bake until bubbly, about 20 minutes. If your onions start to brown too quickly, cover the casserole with foil. Serve immediately.

(You can assemble this dish the day before. If you do it that way, leave off the breadcrumbs and fried onions until you get ready to put the casserole in the oven. Add about ten minutes to the cooking time and cover with foil part of the time, to keep the onions from getting too brown and crispy.)