This was by far the best side we had at our Thanksgiving. The BEST. I wanted to incorporate green beans into our meal, but I'm not really a fan of the traditional soup based green bean casserole and unhealthy pre-made onion topping. I looked a little and found that Michael Chiarello has a new take on green bean casserole. After reading the ingredients online and watching a short clip on Food Network's website, I was sold. The meal did not disappoint and I cannot wait to make it for friends and family for Christmas! The caramelized mushrooms were perfect and the sauce was delicious.
I didn't want to add unnecessary fat by putting deep fried onion rings on top, so I referred to another favorite chef, Ellie Krieger. She has a wonderful baked onion ring recipe that went perfectly with this casserole!
On a side note, I made a another find while making this recipe. The Kettle Brand has a line of baked chips that are so scrumptious. I will never buy baked Lays again!
Ingredients for Green Bean "Casserole":
- 1 pound of green beans, ends trimmed
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 8 oz sliced mushrooms
- 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced (you know my love for garlic!)
- 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup cognac
- 1/3 cup red wine (we used cabernet sauvignon)
- 1/3 cup chicken broth (preferably organic)
- Baked onion rings for topping (recipe follows)
Directions:
Bring a couple of quarts of salted water to boil. Boil the green beans for 4 minutes, drain well, and then transfer them to a pan or plate to cool.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until brown for about 4-5 minutes. Don't stir the mushrooms so that they can properly caramelize. After the mushrooms have cooked, add the minced garlic and the thyme. Season with sale and pepper and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 3-5 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the cognac. Return the pan to the heat and add the wine and chicken broth. Stir to combine and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 8-10 minutes. Finally, add the green beans to the mushroom sauce and then toss everything together. Taste the mixture and add salt and pepper to taste if necessary. Top with baked onion rings (recipe below). Serve immediately, or at room temperature.
Baked Onion Ring Ingredients:
- 4 cups of baked potato chips, processed into crumbs (I used Lightly Salted Baked Kettle Chips)
- 1 cup McArthur Low Fat Buttermilk
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 vidalia onion, cut into rings
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Peel the onion and cut it into rings. After that, put the entire bag of Kettle Chips into the food processor and pulse them until they are fine crumbs. Then, put the onion rings into a zip-loc bag with 1/2 cup of flour. Shake the bag so that the onions are completely coated with the flour.
Now, create an assembly line for your onion rings. In the first bowl, combine the buttermilk, 2 tablespoons of flour and pepper. In the second bowl, put the crumbs from the chips. Finally, dip each of the floured onion rings into the buttermilk mixture and then into the crumb mixture. Make sure to pat the crumb mixture on the onion rings so they stick.
Place each onion ring on a baking sheet sprayed with olive oil cooking spray. Let the onions sit on the sheet for a few minutes before you put them into the oven. Spray the onion rings with more olive oil cooking spray and then bake for 20 minutes or until they are golden brown and crispy. Sprinkle more salt on top if necessary and place the onion rings on top of the casserole.
These onion rings are also excellent as a side with many other dishes!