Thankgiving Green Bean Casserole

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you had a wonderful, delicious day surrounded by people you love.

I couldn't make it to my folk's house this Thanksgiving, so instead I went to a dinner hosted by a good friend of ours here in Philadelphia. They requested a side dish from me, so I decided to try my hand at an old classic: the green bean casserole.

For those of you who have only experienced the canned-bean-cream-of-mushroom-soup variety of this casserole, don't turn your nose up just yet. While canned veggies are usually icky, french fried onions greasy and condensed soup full of all kinds of questionable ingredients, I found that making this casserole using fresh ingredients results in a delicious holiday side. There were no leftovers to be had after Thanksgiving, so I made it again later this week just because it was so darn good!

And while I love to experiment, a classic like this required a master's touch. Alton Brown is one of my favorite chefs, so I modified his Best Ever Green Bean Casserole recipe to make it vegan, and voila! It was a hit!

The most important thing is, of course, to start out with really fresh green beans. They should snap easily. (Bend-y beans are old and not as delicious!) I love Alton's recipe because it preserves the bite and freshness of uncooked beans.


Fresh mushrooms make a big difference in this recipe too! Their big earthy flavor really balances out the freshness of the beans.

Baking your own crispy onion topping is not only healthier than the fried variety, but super-delicious as well. Let's get a close-up of that crispy onion topping:


I've indicated my vegan modifications in bolded italics, but otherwise, the recipe is all Alton's.


Bain taitneamh as do bhéil!


PREP TIME: 25 minutes
COOKING TIME: 45 minutes


INGREDIENTS:
For the topping:

2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Nonstick cooking spray

For beans and sauce:
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 pound fresh green beans, rinsed, trimmed and halved
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 ounces mushrooms, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup no-chicken (or veggie, but I prefer the milder taste of no-chicken) broth
1 cup unsweetened soy milk


DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine the onions, flour, panko and salt in a large mixing bowl and toss to combine. Coat a sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray and evenly spread the onions on the pan. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake until golden brown, approximately 30 minutes. Toss the onions 2 to 3 times during cooking. Once done, remove from the oven and set aside until ready to use. Turn the oven down to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

While the onions are cooking, prepare the beans. Bring a gallon of water and 2 tablespoons of salt to a boil in an 8-quart saucepan. Add the beans and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and immediately plunge the beans into a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain and set aside.

Heat up the olive oil in a 12" cast iron skillet. (You don't have to use an iron skillet for this recipe: I used a large saute pan for the stovetop portion of the recipe and then baked it in a casserole dish.) Add the mushrooms, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to give up some of their liquid, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and nutmeg and continue to cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute. Add the broth and simmer for 1 minute. Decrease the heat to medium-low and add the soy milk. Cook until the mixture thickens, stirring occasionally, approximately 6 to 8 minutes. If your mixture seems a little thin still, try adding just a touch more flour.

Remove from the heat and stir in 1/4 of the onions and all of the green beans. Top with the remaining onions. Place into the oven and bake until bubbly, approximately 15 minutes. Remove and serve immediately.


And just as a bonus, check out my delicious vegetarian Thanksgiving plate:
Clockwise from the top, that's baked yams, roasted corn salad, pumpkin lasagna, my green bean casserole and pineapple bread pudding. Who needs turkey with all of this deliciousness?

A huge thank-you to our wonderful Thanksgiving hosts and to all of the guests who made such scrumptious food!

Curry with Seitan and Snow Peas

I love, love, LOVE curry. It's so addictively flavorful. I adapted this recipe to bring me back to the wonders of a chicken curry dish I used to cook constantly back in my omnivore days, from the book Basic Cooking: All You Need to Cook Well Quickly, by Jennifer Newens. This was the first cookbook I purchased for myself, and I still love it to this day, for it's easy recipes and slightly funky-German tone. I still use it often, as it has an awesome vegetable section and many of the protein recipes are easily adaptable into vegetarian cuisine. I highly recommend it for newbies and professional cooks alike.

Seitan makes an excellent meat substitute in my version, and I added the mushrooms and snow peas for some veggie goodness.


Bain taitneamh as do bhéil!



PREP TIME: about 20 minutes
COOKING TIME: about 25 minutes


INGREDIENTS:
1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
1 large onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 lemon, zested & juiced
1 small (thumb-sized) piece of fresh ginger, peeled & finely grated
8 oz. white mushrooms, cleaned & sliced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 15 oz. can light coconut milk
1 large handful snow peas, cleaned & roughly chopped
8 oz. package seitan
salt & pepper, to taste
olive oil, for cooking


DIRECTIONS:
In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups water to boil. Add brown rice, cover & reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Rice is down when all water is absorbed and rice is fluffy.

In a large frying pan with deep sides, saute onion & garlic in a little olive oil until translucent. Add chopped mushrooms and saute until mushrooms are soft. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, combine sauteed onion, garlic & mushroom mixture, curry powder, lemon zest & juice and grated ginger. Set aside.

In the same frying pan used to saute onions & garlic, heat up a little olive oil. Add seitan and saute until just slightly crispy, stirring frequently. Remove seitan from pan and set aside.

Deglaze the large frying pan with soy sauce, heating the pan & scraping all oil and onion bits from the bottom. Add coconut milk and stir, bringing to a simmer. Add contents of bowl and stir to incorporate. Simmer mixture for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent mixture from sticking to bottom of pan.

Add snow peas and seitan and simmer for 3-4 minutes more. Remove from heat.



Serve curry mixture over brown rice and enjoy!

Roasted Vegetable Casserole

A thousand apologies for the delay, dear readers: this cold season has had me down for the count. To make myself feel better, I have been exploring the comfort of winter vegetables. And what better way to enjoy these veggies than to roast them? It's super-easy, and yields delicious results. The only rule of thumb to remember when roasting veggies is to make sure that all of the veggie pieces are roughly the same size so they roast evenly in the oven. The balsamic vinegar adds a nice caramelization, and the rosemary makes them taste like the holidays.

This recipe only tastes decadent: a little blue cheese goes a long way towards a creamy, satisfying (yet ultimately quite guilt-free!) meal.


Bain taitneamh as do bhéil!


PREP TIME: about 20 minutes
COOKING TIME: 1 hour 30 minutes


INGREDIENTS:
1 large butternut squash, peeled, cored & cut evenly into chunks
3 parsnips, peeled & cut into even chunks
3 large carrots, peeled & cut into even chunks
3 shallots, outer skin removed, quartered
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon rosemary
salt & pepper, to taste
4 cups vegetable stock, plus more as needed
2 cups brown rice
1/4 cup crumbled bleu cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup dried cranberries or cherries


DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large roasting pan, combine squash, parsnips, carrots, shallots, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, salt & pepper. Toss to coat veggies equally with oil & vinegar. Cover and roast in the oven for 45 minutes, or until vegetables are very tender.

While the veggies cook, bring veggie stock to a boil. Add brown rice, cover & simmer until all stock is absorbed and the rice is fluffy. Set aside. Toast pine nuts in a dry frying pan over a low heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning. As soon as they begin to brown, remove from heat and set aside.

When veggies are done roasting, reduce oven heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and chop them roughly into bite-sized pieces. Combine roasted veggies, rice, pine nuts, bleu cheese and dried cranberries, stirring to incorporate all ingredients. The mixture should be rather thick, but if it's difficult to stir, thin with a little veggie stock.

Grease a large casserole dish and spread mixture evenly over the bottom. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5 minutes more, until top is slightly browned.


Serve with a glass of red wine and a big green salad!