Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients

2 pounds Fresh Green Beans, Ends Cut Off
4 slices Bacon, Cut Into 1/4 Inch Pieces
3 cloves Garlic, Minced
1/2 whole Large Onion, Chopped
4 Tablespoons Butter
4 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
2-1/2 cups Whole Milk
1/2 cup Half-and-half
1-1/2 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste
Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
1/8 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 jar (4 Ounce) Sliced Pimentoes, Drained
Extra Milk For Thinning If Necessary
1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs

Preparation Instructions

Cut green beans in half if you like pieces to be a little smaller.

Blanch the green beans: drop them into lightly salted boiling water and allow green beans to cook for about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove them from the boiling water with a slotted spoon and immediately plunge them into a bowl of ice cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain beans once they're cool and set aside.

Add bacon pieces to a skillet over medium heat. Cook bacon for two minutes, then add diced onion and garlic and continue cooking for 3 to 5 minutes, or until bacon is done (but not crisp) and onions are golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a separate skillet or saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Sprinkle flour into the pan and whisk immediately to evenly mix it into the butter. Cook for a minute or two, then pour in milk and half and half. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, while sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne then add the grated cheddar. Stir while cheese melts. Turn off heat.

Add pimentos to pan, then add bacon/onion mixture. Stir to combine. Pour over green beans and stir gently to combine. Pour into a baking dish and top with panko crumbs.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and panko crumbs are golden.

My edits - first off, this is an oft requested holiday side dish.  If I'm invited to a dinner the first request is my green bean casserole....not that cream of soup stuff, the real stuff you make.  It's absolutely amazing and I love this.

The only change I make is I do use french fried onions, but I pulse them in a blender or processor and mix with the panko.  Sometimes I'll sprinkle them on top whole, but I'm not a big fan of the large chunks and it seems to go over even better when they're pulsed into smaller crumbs.  I've tried with just panko (kind of flat), with just french fried onions from the canister (too chunky and not crunchy enough), and the way described above (just right).

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and dumpling soup is always a second meal for me… what I mean by that is that I will roast a chicken and use about half of it for super the night before in something like club sandwiches. I then strip off the rest of the meat and put it aside, and then store the bones and the juices from the roast chicken until the next day. One chicken, two meals. I might look like a lot of work and a lot of step but it really isn’t… it is actually an easy meal to make and each of the steps takes just a few minutes to prepare and the result is well worth it!

In the morning I start on the stock…

No measuring needed…

Heat a bit of olive oil in a large pot.
Chop an onion in quarters (no need to peel them) and throw them in
Add a few green onions if you have them also
Cut a head of garlic into two pieces horizontally and throw it in (again no peeling needed)
Break a few stalk of celery in half and throw those in
Same thing with a few carrots
Sprinkle a bit of coarse salt, freshly ground pepper and a bit of poultry seasoning. (sage, thyme, marjoram)
Let the veggies cook and caramelize a bit. It adds depth to the stock.

Veggies for broth
Add the chicken bones and then about 16 cups of water… or enough to cover everything.



Making chicken Broth

Let simmer for a few hours until reduced by almost half.
You will end up with a flavourful and rich and flavourful stock. Strain, and set aside.
Rich homemade Chicken broth
About an hour before starting the soup, it is time to make the dumplings.

2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 green onions (chopped finely)
1 cup buttermilk (or milk with 1 tsp of lemon juice) *I use almond milk
2 eggs

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and onions together in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the sour milk and eggs. Add the wet mixture to the dry and fold in slowly until just incorporated being very careful not to overmix. It will be lumpy and that is perfectly fine.

Place in the fridge for an hour.



To make the soup…

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
2 carrots, finely diced
2 stalks of celery, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
1/4 cup flour
Chopped roasted chicken (about 2 cups… or half chicken)
chicken broth (recipe above)
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp pepper

In a large pot, heat oil and butter. Add the veggies and cook until softened.
Carrots, celery and garlic cooking
Add the flour and let cook for a few minutes
added flour
Cup by cup add the broth. After about 5 cups are added, start waiting a bit between each next addition and add the garlic powder, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Add the rest of the broth and adjust the seasonings to taste. Add the chicken and let simmer for about 5 min.
The soup should be flavourful and slightly thick and creamy.
thick and creamy chicken soup
While the soup is simmering, take the dumpling batter out of the fridge. It should resemble a thick pancake batter.
dumpling mix
Using two tablespoons (or an ice cream scoop) quickly add spoonfuls of the dumpling mix to the soup. (You want to go as fast as possible)
Then quickly cover and simmer for another 10-15 minutes… don’t uncover when cooking!
(the dumplings will rise to the top and will both boil and stream at the same time)
dumpling are done
(the result is a very light and fluffy dumpling)
light and fluffy
And that is it! it is ready to serve and be enjoyed…