Green Bean Casserole
Green bean casserole is the epitome of jokes about midwestern food. It's typically a soggy mess of beans and cream of mushroom soup. I love this version which uses freshly steamed beans and a made from scratch mushroom sauce that takes this church potluck staple from yuck to yum!
Ingredients
- 2 slices bread, torn into quarters
- 1 tbsp butter, softened
- dash salt and pepper
- 5 ounce canned fried onion
- 1 pound green beans, trimmed and halved
- 3/4 tsp salt, divided
- 1 1/2 tbsp butter
- 8 ounces mushrooms, coarsely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 1/2 tbsp flour
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 3/4 cup half and half
Instructions
- In a food processor or blender, pulse bread, butter, salt and pepper until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Transfer to medium bowl and toss with onions; set aside.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a 8 inch square, or 11x7 inch, baking dish.
- In a large pot, bring 2 quarts of water to boil. Add beans and 1/2 tsp salt. Cook until beans are bright green and crisp tender, about 5-6 minutes. Drain beans and plunge into ice water to stop cooking. Spread on paper towels to drain.
- Add butter to empty pot and melt over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, garlic, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper; cook about 5 minutes until mushrooms release moisture and then evaporates. Add flour and cook one minute more.
- Add both and bring to simmer, stirring constantly. Add half and half, reduce heat to simmer and cook until thickened--5-6 minutes.
- Add beans to sauce and stir to coat. Pour into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with topping and bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes.