240. Green Bean Heaven

My mom dropped by on Sunday morning as I was processing the latest peck (or it could have been a bushel or a metric tonne -- I don't know -- some quantity, anyway) of beans that I had picked.  I know she doesn't really like, nor do I, the ones that are a bit on the large side, but that's really all I had on offer at the time. Still, as I had demonstrated to myself over and over all week, MY overgrown beans are still tasty and tender and wonderful.

Anyhoo, my poor mom.  She declined to take the large beans, and said maybe she could come by for my next picking.  Her loss, but I understand.  There is nothing worse than tasteless, tough, stringy beans.  But I reiterate:  Mine are not that way!  Honest! 

When she was here, I was in the middle of making The World's Best Green Bean Casserole, which totally lives up to its name.  The idea of this would also be a concept that is slightly foreign and ridiculous to my mom. "If you've got Campbell's cream of mushroom soup in the supermarket and canned beans," she would probably wonder, "why the hell are you going to all that trouble of making your own sauce from scratch?" 

She came of age, having moved from East Armpit, Quebec, to West Groin, Vermont, in the '50s and '60s, and she had four kids in cloth diapers and a dead husband and a town-clerkship that she inherited from my father to manage, and a garden and house to take care of, I think all before she even became an American citizen -- what can I say? In her shoes, I would have been the first to say: "Bring on the frickin' Campbell's!"

Anyway, make this casserole. Though we have never been a "green bean casserole" family, I remember the time when Sandy did a poll something along the lines of "What dish do you consider essential to be on the Thanksgiving table?"  (I think it was Sandy, anyway...) and I remember it seemed that 90% of the comments were "green bean casserole!" so apparently our family is deficient in some way.  I will have to put this on the Thanksgiving table and just see what happens. I'm guessing there will be requests for the recipe from my family members.  I used spelt flour for the thickener. I did not have any of those french fried onions in my pantry, and the writer of that blog says they are mandatory, but I only used a slice of the ever-present-this-week Jewish rye bread and 1 tablespoon butter for the topping, and I have to say, her addition of a touch of sherry and my addition of the rye bread and caraway seeds.... it is so good I'd almost be willing to enter into a bake-off competition with her over this. 

Amazing.

Comments

[Sarah]

Gee. The bag of frozen cauliflower I'm about to heat and eat seems a bit less appealing now. Maybe I will skip all the effort and have a granola bar.

[Lisa]

I personally hate green beans in all shapes and forms. Both of my sisters also hate green beans. Green bean casserole has never been a staple at my family's Thanksgiving, so my family must be as deficient as yours (or perhaps more, since three out of five don't like green beans). :)

[Cheryl S.]

I've had this recipe in my "make soon" file for a while, but haven't gotten around to it. If I still have any beans that look edible in the garden this weekend, I'll have to give it a try. I love the idea of rye bread crumbs. And I do happen to have some of those canned onion thingies.

[margene]

My mothers recipe was tomato soup (Campbells), filled with green beens (canned) and hamburger, topped with mashed potatoes (real) and baked for a LONGass time (an hour maybe?). IT WAS HELL! Your recipe doesn't sound half bad, but the name 'green bean casserole' gives me the shudders.

[Carole]

We had fresh green beans from the CSA this week and they were so delicious! I enjoy a green bean casserole now and again but never on Thanksgiving. I'm going to give this one a shot!

[Helen]

hmmm.
We've never had green bean casserole at Thanksgiving.
I'm not sure I've ever had green bean casserole at all! Never, until now, did I think I was missing something.

[Marcia]

I think my mother did the GBC once at Thanksgiving but it was not a family favorite. Yours looks good, however, and I'm with you on the homemade sauce. My pole beans are finally starting to produce, so we are getting edible beans again, but I'm leaving all the too-big bush beans on the plants to see if I can get some dried beans out of them. Or seeds for next year! So, what can I plant now, both in the garden and in the greenhouse? Any thoughts?

[Carrie]

It must be my inherent bias against the abomination that is green bean casserole that caused me to read that link as The Worlds Worst Green Bean Casserole. It was only because your raving about it didn't make sense that I went back and reread it (several times) and realized it was Best.

[Shanti]

I've only once made the green bean casserole as directed. Except that I also didn't have fried onions, so I topped it with slivered almonds instead. I thought it was tasty, but the people at the potluck thought it was heretical. I had no idea how attached people were to that recipe.

[gayle]

That recipe looks great! I normally make my own sauce to substitute for the Campbell's glop, anyway. I'd have to leave out the mushrooms, though - I love them but my husband thinks all mushrooms are an abomination.
I have a suggestion for the fried onions. Check out this recipe:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/03/onion-strings-oh-yeah-baby/

I think they would work dandy!
And check out the rest of her blog, while you're there. She's a dab hand with a spatula, I tell ya!

[naomi]

I don't think I've ever had green bean casserole. (Our non-turkey Thanksgiving staples have always been rice stuffing and cheesecake.) I may have to try some variation of this recipe, though. Hmmmm.

[Tonia]

I'm with Helen - I've never had green bean casserole. Then again, having grown up Italian in New York, my perspective is a little skewed. We always had lasagne or homemade ravioli *before* the turkey on Thanksgiving. :)

The world's best casserole looks so good I might have to bring it to my next potluck. Thanks for the recipe!

[Raquel Moreno]

Hmmm..maybe I'll make it this year,I've never tried it,but always wanted to. I like the idea of the bread vs. the friend onions, seems a bit healthier.

[Beebs]

I made this recipe (from Cooks Illustrated) for Thanksgiving 2 years ago and it got rave reviews! Love the idea of adding rye bread. Have I mentioned recently that I love that you're blogging everyday? I do; I really do.

[Cookie]

I think I've had green bean casserole maybe twice. I don't understand it and wrote it off as another one of those things I'll never understand.

But I do love those onion thingies. :D

[lisa]

Well apparently my family is deficient too, since we just about never have green bean casserole at Thanksgiving. Only if an odd guest arrives with it in hand have I had this at Thanksgiving... or maybe at some other odd person's house. I grew up not knowing fresh green vegetables (ok, I knew about peas). Didn't they grow in those cans?? So I'm not a huge bean fan. DH LOVES LOVES LOVES to plant them though, because they grow relatively easily and with a relatively bountiful harvest. So I get him to grow haricot verts, which he often lets get big... Anyhoo, my favorite way to eat them these days is seared until they are black in some sesame oil, add garlic, sesame seeds, salt, and in the last instant some cayenne (Mel says he makes this with hot peppers). It really smokes up the house though, especially when you add the cayenne... so sometimes we fire up the coleman stove and do it outside.

[sandy]

I have been making a recipe like this for a couple of years. I can't stand to use canned soup. I guess we could call it canned "soup". It is much more flavorful with real green beans, real sauce and real mushrooms, no matter what the topping!
Pass a dish please! :D

[Stephanie]

I've never had green bean casserole either. But, I did have fresh-from-the-garden green beans last week... and I LOVE green beans... and those were the best I've ever eaten. Ever. Really. It's amazing how much different grown-in-your-backyard food is from got-on-a-supermarket-shelf food, don't you think?

[marianne]

I always liked the green bean casserole but no one else did so it was rarely made... I have saved that recipe, again, thanks for the great link, and by golly I WILL be making this one, with spelt :^).... mercy, your mom... I would've also been using the canned soup were I her at that point in time.... and the more I think about it, perhaps back then they weren't using as much 'crap'... but then I don't really know.

[Dani in NC]

I've been channeling my inner '50s housewife all year. At least once a week, I make a meal based on a some sort of "cream of" soup.