The first time I saw a werewolf movie as a young boy it gave me nightmares for a month. Mentioning the "classic" green bean casserole has the same effect on me. It's terrifying. Overcooked canned beans smothered in a sodium heavy, vaguely mushroom flavored ooze and topped with rapidly softening fried onions.
Who thought of this? Who told us we were supposed to like it?
The components of a green bean casserole are all ingredients that I love, it's the end result that I'm not fond of, and I know of a whole lot of other people who share that dislike. This is the green bean casserole for the rest of us.
The original concept for this dish came from an episode of Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello on Food Network. He chose onion rings as his garnish, but I find that making a proper onion ring, or any other deep fried onion for that matter, without a professional fryer is extremely iffy, so I went with caramelized onions instead. I also upped the mushroom content quite a bit.
1 lb. whole green beans (fresh or frozen).
1 very large onion or two normally sized onions, halved and sliced into thin strips.
8 oz. crimini (baby portabella/portabello) Mushrooms, sliced.
2-3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil.
While waiting for water to boil, melt butter in a saute pan over low heat. Add onions, stir once and allow to sweat. (you don't want to hear any sizzling.) Stir occasionally until all onions are a deep golden.
Add green beans to boiling water. cook until just crisp-tender (approximately 2 minutes.) Remove from pan and either submerge in a bowl of ice and water, or place in a colander under cold running water until completely cooled.
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a skillet or saute pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Add shitake mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes. Add crimini mushrooms and cook,stirring often, for approximately 5 more minutes, or until mushrooms are done to your liking.
Strain green beans and add to mushroom mixture. Toss until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and place in a serving dish.
Arrange caramelized onions along the outside of casserole or serving bowl.
I prefer to serve this as I would the classic version. A nice serving bowl or casserole in the center of the table.
If you prefer, you can plate individually by placing a serving of the bean and mushroom mixture on a plate and topping them with a small mound of the caramelized onions. this is a bit more of a restaurant style presentation, but it works well if you're not serving these as part of a holiday buffet.
I'm going to be honest with you. I never thought in a million years that I would post a recipe for any type of green bean casserole. This, however is a wonderful dish. The only thing I can think of that would make it better would be the addition of bacon (I'm thinking of you, Biggles!), perhaps some slivered almonds or a little added Parmesan cheese, just to add the dairy to it that I've removed from the classic version.
Green Beans with Walnuts - The perfect side to any meal, but is especially festive on a Holiday table.
Green Beer - How to make your own St. Paddy's Day green beer.
My former in laws would fight over the classic green bean casserole, I couldn't believe my eyes. But it wasn't bad! Bet your version is terrific, I'm bookmarking your recipe to try.