Yay! It’s Thanksgiving week! To me Thanksgiving is the best holiday. There’s just food, libations and very little pressure. Sure you want the food to be delicious, but that’s as demanding as inviting friends or family over for dinner in general. And although there are staples that everyone expects, it’s fun to throw a curve ball in every once in awhile. In this case, the curve ball is making a staple much, much, better than the original.
Like every other food nerd in the country, I love Alton Brown. And a couple of years ago I saw him make his “Best Ever Green Bean Casserole.” Since then I’ve replaced the canned soup and frozen green beans, with this casserole made completely from scratch. It’s creamy and rich and the beans still have a bit of body, unlike the soggy, old fashioned recipe.
But, I am noting a caveat that almost made me not post the recipe this weekend: I’ve never made this completely successfully. Some of the onions for the topping always get too brown. The original recipe calls for the onions to be baked at 475 degrees for 20 minutes. So, even though I was somewhat skeptical the first time I made it, I followed the directions.
Big mistake. Huge.
The onions set off my smoke detector. So, with my sense of intuition restored, the next time I made it I set the oven to 350 and baked the onions for 15 minutes. One minute they were raw, the next, a bunch of them had burned. The third time I made it, I baked them at 300 degrees and they were much better, though a few still burned. Someday I’m going to get it just right.
But the casserole itself is fantastic. So, give it a shot. Maybe the onion topping is my Everest and your molehill. Try the homemade onion topping – but maybe keep a can of the canned onions around. Just in case.
Homemade Green Bean Casserole (Based on a recipe from Alton Brown)
For the onion topping:
- 2 medium onions, sliced ½ inch thick
- ¼ cup of flour
- ¼ cup of panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- Salt and pepper
For the casserole:
- Salt
- 1lb of fresh green beans, or a mixture of green beans and yellow beans
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 medium onion, diced
- Pepper
- 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, or 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme
- 2 tablespoons of flour
- 1 cup of chicken broth
- 1 cup of half and half
Preheat the oven to 300.
Pour the olive oil into a bowl. Mix together the panko, flour, salt and pepper on a plate. Dip the sliced onions into the olive oil, then coat with the panko mixture. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. Toss the onions halfway through.
While the onions are baking, fill a large pot with water and salt it. Chop the ends off of the beans and half them. When the water comes to a boil, drop the beans in and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain them, and drop into a large bowl of ice water. That will stop the beans from continuing to cook.
In a saucepan on medium heat, melt the butter and add the chopped onions. Saute until the onions are soft. Add the flour and stir for one minute. Add the the chicken broth and thyme. Decrease the heat to low and add the half and half. Let the mixture simmer for a few minutes until it thickens, stirring occasionally.
Turn off the heat and pour in ¼ of the onions. Pour the mixture into a greased casserole dish and top with the remaining onions. Bake uncovered in the oven until the casserole is bubbly, about 15 minutes.
Serves 4. (Can be easily doubled.)
