Hi everyone. Before I begin, please know that the above photo is NOT MY PHOTO but I foolishly did not photograph my green bean casserole and wanted you to have a visual. I got this on line and it is Alton Brown’s photo.
O.K., disclaimer is done.
So, many of you have probably had the traditional green bean Campbell’s soup casserole with green beans that have earned fame and love for decades. I have actually never tried it but people rave about it. I needed another vegetable dish for Thanksgiving and actually had the fried onions in my cupboard so, naturally, I thought of the above mentioned dish.
I know that making a sauce from butter, flour and milk is not as virtuous as a quinoa and kale salad, but I felt I owed it to my guests to not cook from a Campbell’s soup can when I was already offering canned, organic cranberry sauce for those that like it . Please hear me when I tell you that the bechamel recipe below just makes everything taste good and you won’t need the soup can. Bechamel is that creamy white sauce that improves lasagna and pot pies and is what those Campbell soup people are trying to recreate with their convenience cans but with a lot of sodium.
Try my recipe and see for yourself how you can keep your green bean casserole tradition but don’t need to depend on processed food. Let me know what you think!
P.S. No offense to Campbell’s soup-Cream of Celery was my all time favorite meal as a kid 😉
Green Bean Casserole:
2 LBS trimmed green beans, cut in half
Bechamel or White Sauce:
6 TBS butter
4 cups whole milk
4 TBSflour
1/4-1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg (adjust it to your liking)
1 tsp salt (adjust to your liking with more, a little at a time)
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 -2 cups canned fried onions like French’s or ones from Trader Joe’s that my sis told me about which have a lot fewer ingredients-healthier
Steam green beans after they have been trimmed and cut in half. Set aside or refrigerate and use the next day if you like.
In a medium sized sauce pan, heat up the butter over a low flame until melted.
Stir in the flour with a whisk until fully incorporated with the butter.
Slowly add in the milk, whisking all the while.
Keep whisking now over a low to medium flame. Whisk every minute or so until the mixture becomes thick like pudding. This may take about 10-15 minutes.
Add in the nutmeg, salt and pepper and add more of each if you need to.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the green beans and the bechamel sauce.
Place mixture in a casserole dish and top with the fried onions.
Cover with aluminum foil and place in a preheated 350 degree oven for about half hour or until mixture is bubbling and heated through. Serve immediately and enjoy!