Tag: casserole

Jerri’s Green Bean Casserole

Three or four years before a team of home economists at the Campbell Soup Company published the recipe for green bean casserole, one of Jerri’s cousins served it on Thanksgiving in Moundridge, Kansas. Jerri is sure of the chronology for two reasons: She was not yet in high school, and she loved that casserole.

Jerri’s comment when I asked for her green bean casserole recipe probably explains how a Kansas cook beat a team of professionals. “Everybody knows how to make green bean casserole. There’s nothing special about it.”

Since Campbell Cream of Mushroom Soup had been around since 1934 and home canning of vegetables for at least fifty years before that, chances are good that inventive housewives from Kansas to Wisconsin had discovered that cream of mushroom soup turned ordinary green beans into something special shortly after they brought the first cans of the soup home from the store. I know that my mother made green bean casseroles when I was a kid, but I can’t say when they first appeared on the Rang table.

Today, you will find literally hundreds of recipes for green bean casserole on the Web. There are many variations ranging from very simple (Stir the soup and beans together and heat.) to rather complicated instructions describing how to produce an aristocratic version of a plebeian dish. (Sauté the mushrooms….toss the shallot rings….etc.)

Some call for panko crumbs and others top the casserole with Ritz crackers. Still others include extra ingredients such as garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, cheese or bacon. And some even replace the cream of mushroom soup with a white sauce and exotic mushrooms. But in spite of the substitutions or added ingredients, they are all varieties of the two kinds of green bean casserole.

One kind is made with cut beans, the other with French cut beans. Cut beans are whole beans cut crosswise into pieces. French cut beans are cut into long strips. When my mother canned beans, they were cut beans, but when she made a green bean casserole she bought French cut beans for it. So does Jerri.

I have eaten both varieties, and in my opinion green bean casseroles made with French cut beans are far superior to those made with cut beans. You may prefer the cut bean variety, which is just fine. As a wise man wrote long ago, “De gustibus non disputandum est” which is Latin for “Don’t argue about matters of taste.”

Familiarity may breed contempt in some cases, but when it comes to green bean casserole, familiarity for me nurtures a love for that mixture of finely cut beans and creamy soup with plenty of mushrooms. Like my mother, Jerri adds mushrooms to her green bean casserole My father did not approve, but he was outvoted by the rest of us, and it was Mom who ruled the kitchen.

Here is Jerri’s (and my Mom’s) recipe, simple but delicious. If you already love the one you make, don’t try this one. However, you may be one of the few people who has never made a green bean casserole. Or perhaps you make it only because family members expect one at Thanksgiving or Christmas. If either sentence describes your situation, give this recipe a try.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cans French cut green beans
2 cans Campbell Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 four oz. can mushroom stems and pieces
1 cup French fried onions, divided

PROCEDURE:

Preheat the oven to about 325º.

Drain the beans and mushrooms well and put them in a mixing bowl. Stir in the mushroom soup. Then fold in a half cup of French fried onions. Microwave until the mixture is hot. Sprinkle the remaining French fried onions on top and bake ten minutes in the oven before serving.

NOTES: Jerri microwaves the casserole because we don’t have room for it in the oven along with the turkey. If you have a larger oven or two ovens, you can just pop the casserole into the oven and remember to sprinkle the French fried onions on top during the last ten minutes while it is heating.

Cheesy Sour Cream Potatoes

Church potlucks, family reunions, picnics and buffet dinners are all occasions when you are likely to encounter hash brown potatoes as the main ingredient in a casserole. This version is one from The Krehbiel Family Cookbook. Jerri’s nieces compiled this cookbook to preserve recipes that their mother used when they were growing up.

Phyllis was busy raising four girls, helping out with the lambs on the farm, tending the garden and directing the music at their church, so a lot of her recipes are ones that don’t take much time in the kitchen.

This particular one is very easy to make if you remember to take the hash browns out of the freezer an hour or two before assembling the dish. You stir everything together, put it in a covered baking pan and slip it into a hot oven for an hour.

The result is a rich combination of cheese and potatoes that goes particularly well with a ring of smoked sausage steamed for a few minutes after you take the casserole out of the oven. And it’s even filling enough to serve as the main dish with a salad and bread for a light supper.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs. frozen hash brown potatoes
2 cups sour cream
1/2 stick butter or oleo
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup onion
2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

PROCEDURE:

Preheat the oven to 350º and grease a nine by thirteen-inch baking pan.

Thaw the potatoes, melt the butter or oleo and grate the cheese. Chop the onion very fine to about a sixteenth-inch dice.

Mix all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Spread the mixture evenly into the baking pan. Cover and bake for an hour.

NOTE: Jerri’s nieces noted that you can freeze this casserole either before or after baking. If you are baking an uncooked frozen casserole, bake it for about an hour and a half. If reheating a cooked casserole, bake for forty-five to sixty minutes.

This recipe serves as a main dish for six to eight diners or a buffet offering for a dozen or more. You can cut the ingredients in half and bake it in an eight by twelve inch pan if you wish.

One of our friends used to make a very similar casserole that she brought to a church choir potluck one year. Hers had a topping of crunchies. If you want, you could add them to this recipe after it has baked covered a half hour. Sprinkle a cup or two of crushed corn flakes on top, dribble a couple of tablespoons of melted butter over them and bake the casserole uncovered another thirty minutes.