Green Bean Casserole . . . NOT French's®

From Scratch Green Bean Casserole

Oven Temperature: 350 Degrees

Prep. Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total: 1 hour

I love the holidays. I don't celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas, but something about the holiday season makes me feel good inside. As you all know, I am muslim, so I celebrate Eid. However, that doesn't stop me from loving all the pretty decorations, the soothing music, and of course the extended mall hours. Oh, and those nifty decorations that sync with the radio! OMG. Anyways, I also love how Pinterest gets overwhelmed with holiday recipes. I love being able to read about people trying to cook a legit thanksgiving dinner, and how it usually ends up coming out of cans or ready made boxes. We used to have a thanksgiving dinner at a used-to-be-family-members every year. Of course, most of it was ready prepared food, but it's the thought that counts, right? Never mind that the canned cranberry sauce looked like jello gone wrong, or the fact that it tasted like fluoride. It was still a dinner, with family, and with lots of dessert. As you know, I love dessert. Enough with me talking about dinner, Let's get to the good stuff.

We have a family friend that invites us over for dinner every once in a while. She makes this amazing green bean casserole, and I can never get enough of it. So, one day I got up the courage and asked for the recipe. She smirked at me and laughed a little. I got curious. Then, she continues to tell me that it's the easiest recipe in the world. That it's on the back of every box of French's onions. What rock have I been living under?! So, one day she comes over with a bag full of groceries. I open the bag and the contents shocked me: 4 cans Green Beans, 1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup, and 1 box French's onions. I pulled out my casserole dish and got to work. You throw in the 4 cans of beans with the can of soup and some milk. Top it off with onions, and throw it in the oven. Couldn't be easier. I took it out of the oven, but for some reason I couldn't eat it. You see, I hate canned food. All of a sudden that beautiful casserole went from amazing, to look-a-like hospital food. I was disappointed. Extremely disappointed. So, from that day, my mission was to make it from scratch. From start to end, I would make all of it. And I did. 

This green bean casserole starts with a nice buttery roux. Its got onions. Its got garlic. Its got mushrooms, and its got milk. Then you add some nice green beans. They've been steamed a little, but have a crunch. They're beautifully green, not a musty rusty can green, the true color green. You throw it all in the oven, and then you top it with fresh fried crispy onion strings, and WOW. Oh. My. God. Your life will change forever. That easily amazing concoction you used to make will look like cafeteria food next to this. Never again will you go back. Never again will you share that recipe. And never again will you take that short cut. Because this is the real thing. It's the real taste, the real amazing kind of food you wished you knew about. Make it. You will never regret it. I promise. 

Ingredients:

20 oz. Frozen Green Beans or Fresh

Pot of Boiling Water (For Blanching)

Bowl of Ice Water (To keep the Beans Green)

Mushroom Sauce

8 oz. Mushrooms (Sliced)

1/2  large White Onion (Diced)

2 Garlic Cloves (Minced)

2 tbsp Butter

2 tbsp Flour

1 1/2 Cups Milk

4 oz. Cream Cheese (Cubed)

1 tbsp Fresh Parsley or 1/2 tbsp Dried Parsley

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce or Soy Sauce

Onion Strings

1 1/2 large White Onions

2 cups Buttermilk or 2 cups Milk with 2 tbsp Vinegar or Lemon Juice

2 cups Flour

1 tbsp Salt

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Oil (For Frying)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x13 pan or 2-quart casserole dish. Start my blanching your green beans. Boil some water and drop the beans in there. Cook them for about 3-4 minutes, until they are cooked but still have a nice crunch. Take them out of the hot water and immediately put them in the ice water. This stops the cooking process and prevents your green beans from turning that gross rusty can brown color. 

Next, take a pan and throw 1 tbsp of the butter in there. Let it melt and then add the onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Cook on medium heat until your mushrooms smell great and your onions are a nice light golden brown. Now, add the rest of the butter and allow it to melt. Throw in the flour and stir your mixture constantly for 2 minutes. This is preparing the roux. It's whats gonna keep your sauce nice and thick.

Now, slowly add in the milk while you are still stirring. Keep stirring and cooking until you sauce is thick and bubbly and amazing. Add in the cream cheese and stir that fat in until it marries with everything else. Add in the parsley, pepper, salt, and sauce. Bring to a nice soft boil and turn off the heat. Now, take the green beans out of the water and dump them into this nice creamy sauce. You can cut the green beans in half if they are too long. Mix them in well and dump all this into your buttered dish. Put it in the oven and set a timer for 25 minutes.

While it's cooking, slice your onions thinly, and soak them in your buttermilk for 10 minutes. Mix the flour with the salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. While the oil is heating, strain the onions and throw them into the flour. Coat them all nicely and when the oil is nice and hot, fry them until they are a golden brown. Check on the casserole. You want it to be hot and bubbly. When it is, take it out of the oven and top it with the onions. Feel free to mix some in there, and then top it off with the rest. Serve while it's hot. Recall your last bite of canned casserole, because it will stay your last. Never again will you go back. Enjoy! I sure did!