Re-Thinking Green Bean Casserole for the holidays

Anything is better than the cream of mushroom soup french fried onion thing

Donald Link's Green Bean Casserole Recipe from his Real Cajun cookbook is the GOAT green bean casserole. I made it 6 years ago for the first time and I'm pretty much required by my family to make it every year since.

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Donald Link’s Traditional Green Bean Casserole
Posted on January 12, 2011 by angela

This is from Donald Link’s Real Cajun, a recent addition to our cookbook collection that we are obsessing over. This is a two part recipe, but it can be assembled the day before sans fried onions. It is so good that even with a holiday table full of food there will not be one bite left. Of course the green beans are delicious all on their own if you like to keep things simple.

Green Beans with Bacon and Onion

Serves 6 to 8

4 strips thick-sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch pieces

1 small onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 pounds green beans, trimmed and halved, or 2 pounds fresh shell beans, shelled

4 cups chicken broth or water, plus more as needed

1 teaspoon salt, plus more as needed

Ground black pepper

Hot pepper vinegar, as desired

Heat the bacon in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat until lightly browned but still tender. Add the onion and saute until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and saute a few more minutes.

Add the green beans and enough broth or water to just cover, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, covered, for 25 to 35 minutes (35 to 45 minutes for shell beans), until the beans are very tender and have melted into the cooking liquid. Season the beans generously with salt, pepper, and hot pepper vinegar.

Traditional Green Bean Casserole

Serves 8 to 10

1 recipe Green Beans with Bacon and Onion

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons (1 1/2 stick) butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

Pinch of grated nutmeg

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cups grated white or yellow cheddar cheese

FRIED ONIONS

3 cups vegetable oil

1 large onion, very thinly sliced

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Strain the cooking liquid from the beans and reserve (you should have about 2 1/2 cups). Transfer the green bean mixture to a large mixing bowl.

Heat the oil in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. While the oil is heating, season the onion slices with 1 teaspoon of the salt and pepper. Place the flour in a pie plate. When the oil is very hot (about 350 F), toss one-fourth of the onions with the flour. Add them to the hot oil (shaking off the excess flour as you go). Fry until golden, about 4 to 5 minutes, then transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Repeat with the remaining onions until all are fried.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the chopped onion, remaining salt, and nutmeg and cook, stirring, until very soft, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and stir until melted. Add the flour and stir until incorporated. Stir in the cream and reserved bean cooking liquid and cook, stirring, until the sauce is thick enough to fall slowly from a spoon, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the cheese, then add the green beans and toss until combined. Transfer the mixture to a 9 by 13 inch baking dish and bake until the casserole is hot and bubbly around the edges, about 25 minutes. Top with the fried onions and bake an additional 20 minutes, until the onions become more deeply golden. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before serving.

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We (keto) must avoid breaded fried onions and mushroom soup, so I plan on drying onions in the oven until slightly browned and fully (Crunchy) dry. Will add a keto mushroom sauce to the green beans and top with the dried onions. We'll see if that works.

The wife will make green beans with ham as a backup.

I predict (keto) Thanksgiving will be difficult this year, since I don't think we will try keto dressing (I do have a recipe, but). I guess I should be happy that our sons and their families will stay away because they both work and my health concerns make me a poor candidate for survival if I catch the virus.

The Alto Brown recipe taught me how to saute mushrooms for maximum umami flavor. You brown a few at a time in butter until nicely golden. you do several batches. Then you make a cream sauce for them. He did the thinly sliced onions in the oven.

Call me trashy if you must, but the traditional green bean casserole with cream of mushroom soup and the fried onions is one of my favorite side dishes of all time. I could eat an entire dish of it by myself. It's sooooo good.

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Anything is better than the cream of mushroom soup french fried onion thing

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My wife was raised eating it fixed that way. I wasn't, and don't cook it that way when I make it.

I use onion cooked down in a bit of olive oil and when wilted, add a good bit of fresh garlic, then add the green beans that I have canned from my summer garden and allow that to cook for only about 15 minutes.

Then in a large bowl I'll add Italian Bread Crumbs and Parmesan Cheese to the beans in enough of a quantity to make it pretty thick. Then I add some marinated artichoke hearts cut up in bite size pieces and mix it well. Check salt and pepper to taste.

This then goes in a casserole dish oiled with a bit of olive oil and topped with a sprinkling of more Italian Bread Crumbs and baked at 350 for about 45 minutes.

I've never tried the bundles, but can't handle the casserole. Of course, I'm not a green bean fan. We usually have sweet and sour green beans. Here's my recipe.

Sweet and Sour Green Beans

4 (16 ounce) cans green beans (I use the flat, Italian style)
2 medium onions, sliced and separated into rings
16 strips bacon, crisply fried and drained
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted and reserved
12 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons vinegar

Drain beans and put into a 3-quart casserole.

Place onion rings over beans.

Fry bacon and reserve drippings. Crumble bacon over onions.

Add sugar and vinegar to drippings and heat until sugar dissolves.

Pour over other ingredients and marinate overnight.

Before baking, sprinkle with the almonds.

Bake one hour at 325 degrees.

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bundled the green beans and wrapped in bacon

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I've had this before and its very meh to me. I don't get the point, its literally broiled green beans wrapped in bacon. Its a pita to make IMO, for something that is very plan. You are better off cooking the bacon down and then sautéing the green beans in the bacon fat.

I like grean beans, I love bacon, but putting them together is like a forced marriage imo.

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Sweet and Sour Green Beans

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Now this intrigues me. I love vinegary vegetables.

I think you have to cook the casserole longer than Alton Brown's recipe calls for. it was a hit in my house.