For this recipe you’ll need: fresh green beans, baby portabella mushrooms, onion, garlic, bacon, heavy cream, sherry or vermouth, balsamic vinegar, butter, salt and pepper to taste, copycat French’s onions
If you’re in a hurry just click here to go to the green bean casserole recipe.
One of the traditional dishes on our Thanksgiving and Christmas menu is Green Bean Casserole. I grew up on it the way you probably did: canned green beans, cream of mushroom soup, Durkee onions. I don’t know what it is about this simple dish that just makes us love it, but we do.
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Additives, preservatives, massive amount of salt, and that funny canned flavor are just not my favorite things. There has to be a way to make it better….. And there is.
What happens when you substitute fresh, organic ingredients? Magic, that’s what! The cream sauce infused with garlic and bacon, made with portabella mushrooms and half and half becomes succulent, sweet and rich, meaty with mushroom flavor. The true flavor of the green beans shines and the texture is tender yet with some tooth.
Did I mention the portabellas?
YOU MIGHT NEED…
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It’s no secret that red is my very favorite color. I love this au gratin dish! This casserole would be gorgeous in it, don’t you think.
Fresh Green Bean Casserole
Here’s that easy green bean casserole recipe. Don’t save this for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It is simple, delicious, and inexpensive.
Easy Green Bean Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 lbs of fresh green beans, trimmed, washed, and cut
- 1 lbs baby portabella mushrooms, sliced thickly
- 1 onion peeled and chopped, I used purple
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
- 2 strips of bacon, applewood smoked or peppered
- 4 cups heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon sherry or vermouth
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup butter, cut in chunks
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups sliced onions sauted until golden OR 2 cups Copycat French's Onions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 13x9 inch casserole dish
- Cook green beans until crisp - tender. They will cook more in the oven, so don't get them too mushy
- Drain green beans well and spoon into prepared pan
- Chop bacon into a small dice, add with onions to the pan
- Saute until the bacon is crisp and brown and the fat is rendered but the onion is not scorched
- Add garlic and mushrooms
- Saute mushrooms in the bacon fat until tender, remove the contents of the pan to casserole dish and mix into the green beans
- Add the sherry ( or vermouth) and the balsamic
- Add the cream and bring to a boil
- Once it reaches a boil turn heat down and maintain a simmer until the cream is reduced and coats the back of a spoon, 5 to 10 minutes
- Whisk in the butter, small pieces at a time and whisk until the butter is melted and the sauce absorbs it
- Taste and adjust seasonings
- Pour over the green bean mixture, top with sauteed onions or Copycat French's Onions and bake for 20 minutes
If you liked this Homemade Green Bean Side Dish you may also like these Restless Chipotle favorites…
From left to right: Easy Top of the Stove Au Gratin Potatoes, Bourbon Sweet Potatoes with Praline Topping, Ancho Multigrain Pilaf with Cranberries and Pecans
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