I have a lot of Non-American readers, making it necessary for my to explain why I’m doing a post about a green bean casserole.
In America, we have this very strange tradition of making our Thanksgiving feast from cans of food. Nearly every dish that most Americans grew up eating on that November Holiday involved a can of soup, or a package of Jell-o. I see you all, nodding your cute little American heads in agreement. A smile for Grandmas Jell-o salad that still graces your Holiday table because your own kids would FLIP if it wasn’t there in that big Pyrex bowl. I know, don’t think I was exempt from this in my upbringing. But we are grown-ups now. We live in a country that has over 13 million acres of farm land dedicated to fruits and veggetables. We even grow 100 million TONS of produce every year.
We should eat it.
A lot of it. Eat food, not chemicals.
Try it, my American friends, we are lucky enough to live in a country with more produce that we could ever eat. Let’s give it a shot.
Could you do it? Cook an entire Thanksgiving without ONE can? I’m gonna.
Grown Up Green Bean Casserole
Topping:
2 leeks
1 large white onion
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 tbs salt
Casserole:
5 cups fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in half
2 tbs butter
4 cups Crimini mushrooms (baby bella), washed and chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup of chicken broth
2 tbs flour
1 cup cream
Preheat oven to 400.
Cut the leeks (white and very light green portion only) into thin rings. Cut the onion into thin slices. place in a small bowl and toss with the olive oil to coat. Add to a baking sheet and add the Panko bread crumbs and salt, toss to combine.
Bake at 400 for about 30 minutes, tossing about every 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven when a golden brown color is reached.
Place the green beans in a pot of rapidly boiling water. Boil for 5 minutes and immediately drain by pouring into a colander, rinse with cold water for 2 minutes to stop the cooking.
In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes, or until they turn a dark brown. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.
In a separate bowl, add the chicken broth and the flour, stir to combine. Pour into the pan through a mesh strainer to remove any flour lumps. Stir until thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat, add the cream and stir until combined. Return to heat and allow to cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add the green beans and 1/2 cup of the onion/leek mixture, stir. Pour into a 2 quart baking dish.
*Time management tip: If you want to make this the day before Thanksgiving, this is where you stop. Cover the baking dish and put it into the fridge. Put the cooled onion/leek mixture in a separate container of Ziplock bag to prevent them from getting soggy from sitting on the top of the casserole all night.
Reduce oven heat to 375. Bake casserole for 10 minutes, covered with aluminum foil. Remove foil, add onions, and bake for 10 more minutes or until warmed through.
(note: if you are cooking this after removing from the fridge, as in the above Tip, cook covered for 20 minutes then add the onions and bake for ten more.)
Printable Recipe: Grown Up Green Bean Casserole
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Yes, we can do this! Thanksgiving the way it is SUPPOSED to be done … celebrating the bounty of the earth.
… I love this recipe. It looks incredibly delicious and so much better than the “canned” versions!
This was one thing I never had growing up! I know, weird. My husband introduced me to Green Bean Casserole, the French’s version, when we started dating. I love that real life green beans still have a bit of a snap and don’t turn to mush when you bake them!
YES! I am guilty of the can thing, I admit, but this year I have turned over a leaf and I am trying to live as can free as possible. Thanks for making a dish I love with a recipe I can follow sans cans.
Great! Hope you love the can-free version and never go back
I was never a huge fan of this because of the canned ingredients that went with it! As an adult, I can appreciate the fresh ingredients!
Exactly! And we are so lucky to live in a country where we are always surrounded by fresh produce. It’s those little things that we sometimes forget to appreciate! or maybe that’s just me…
Sounds great.
Love green bean casserole… yours sounds good.
Oh this looks seriously delish! I love the grown up version of this dish, lets see if I get assigned this – this year!
I love love LOVE homemade green bean casserole. The original is so good on its own. Making it from scratch just makes it that much more awesome!
This is fantastic. Love the grown up version. The pictures are beautiful!
Love your efforts to replace cans with REAL vegetables
Looks colourful and delicious…
OMG This is splendid! Thanks!
This looks so delicious. Would love for you to share this with us over at foodepix.com.
I totally agree about the cans. Its either canned or frozen. This recipe looks like a great adult green bean casserole. I might have to make this even though thanksgiving is over!
Made this for Thanksgiving. It came from the fridge so I put the timer on for 20 minutes. Burned a good bit of the topping while the interior stayed cold. I would recommend covering for 20 minutes, add the topping and brown for 10 minutes at 350.
Otherwise it came out great!
Thank you so much for the feedback! I just made it stove to oven so it’s good to know what happened from the fridge to oven. I updated the recipe and the PDF. Thanks for letting me know!