Redo a Classic - the Green Bean Casserole

Holiday time is coming upon us and soon we'll be seeing the television commercials that try and define the season for us. Unfortunately the holiday season has become very commercialized, so the original true messages of the season may not get through to many.  I'm not getting into all that, but what I'd like to address is a holiday classic recipe, the Green Bean Casserole.  Now my family, and most people I know have not ever served this recipe for Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's Day, so I'm not really sure why it's a "holiday classic".  I mean you never really see any commercials for it from Campbell's or French's until the holiday season, so it's, to me, a classic recipe because these companies say so.

Anyway, my hubby and his mom like this dish, so I make it for them whenever I feel like it, not just because a holiday dictates it.  I was a good girl and prepared the dish using the Campbell's recipe verbatim; nope, didn't play with it at all.; that is until now.

Here is the original recipe from the Campbell's Kitchen website:

Classic Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular, 98% Fat Free or Healthy Request®)
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Dash ground black pepper
4 cups cooked cut green beans
1 1/3 cups French's® French Fried Onions

Directions:
Stir the soup, milk, soy sauce, black pepper, beans and 2/3 cup onions in a 1 1/2-quart casserole.

Bake at 350°F. for 25 minutes or until the bean mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir the bean mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining onions.

Bake for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown.

Serves 6

...and now here is my recipe and my hubby says it is better than the original by far; it has a headier flavor from the Worcestershire, is creamier and just has an overall better flavor.  The French fried onions are crispier, since they are entirely on top of the casserole, not mixed inside and getting soggy. Try my version and judge for yourself, but it's ok if you still prefer the original.

Green Bean Casserole
(An old classic redone)

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter
1 small onion diced
1 (4 oz) can sliced mushrooms
3 (14.5 oz) cans French style green beans, drained
2 (10.75 oz) cans cream of mushroom soup
1 cup milk
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp each ground black pepper and paprika
2 cups French fried onions

Preparation:

On medium heat, melt butter in small skillet; sauté onion and mushrooms till the onions just begin to soften; do not brown. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 350F; spray a 2 qt casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sautéed onions and mushrooms with all other ingredients except the fried onions. Spoon into the casserole dish and spread the fried onions evenly over the top.

Bake for 30 minutes; remove from oven and let settle for 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Lovin' from the Oven.

They're warm and comforting; moist and rich in flavor; satisfying as is, or more delicious with spread on butter, honey or jam. They are muffins and they are a treat no matter what time of the day or night they are eaten. Depending on what ingredients they contain, muffins are basically a miniature version of a bread or cake. If they become slightly stale, they can be broken up to use in another recipe, such as a trifle or bread pudding.

Besides being delicious, they are versatile; for a party, miniature muffins are cute; and folks won't think they're being little piggies if they happen to try one of every variety being served. No time for a sit down meal, a muffin on the go, since they are easily hand held. Children being difficult about eating a healthy meal...let them eat cake; that is a muffin made of healthy ingredients, but they don't know it. Back in the 1990's, I had a small business where I would cater breakfast business meetings; serving coffee, tea, juice and loads of muffins. I did well, that is until my business partner stole all my assests and equipment, but that's a whole other boring story.

The combinations for muffins are endless, so have fun experimenting and your tummy will love you for it.

Muffins

Basic Batter

Ingredients:
1/2 cup softened butter
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400F; spray 2-6 cup muffin tins with nonstick baking spray.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar; add in each egg separately, continuing to mix to incorporate well. Mix in the vanilla extract and milk until smooth.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients into the large bowl of wet ingredients until all is incorporated and smooth.

Spoon the batter into the tins, filling 2/3 of the way up. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the muffins.

Let cool for 5 minutes before removing muffins from the tins.

Makes 12 muffins.

Variations

Banana Walnut
Reduce milk to ½ cup; add 1 cup of mashed banana to wet ingredients. Add ½ tsp ground cinnamon and ½ cup chopped walnuts to dry ingredients.

Berry
Into the completed basic batter, fold in 1 cup fresh or thawed berries (whole blueberries or cranberries, red or black raspberries that have been halved, diced strawberries or a mixture of berries).

Corn
Reduce the all purpose flour to 1 cup; add 1 cup cornmeal.

Fruit Preserves
Prepare basic batter; fill tins 1/3 full and place 1 tsp of jam, jelly or preserves in the center.
Finish spooning basic batter into cups to 2/3’s full mark.

Candy Chips
Exchange sugar for light brown sugar. Add ½ tsp baking soda and ½ cup of candy chips (chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch, mint, vanilla or mixture) to the dry ingredients.

Mary Cokenour
September 1997

Coffee, Sour Cream and Cake.

The UPS delivery truck just delivered my newest order from PapaNicolas.com...COFFEE!!! My favorite flavors were in the box: French Vanilla, Vanilla Nut Creme, French Caramel Creme and Toasted Southern Pecan; and I quickly filled up my Tupperware containers with this precious commodity. Now, what little tidbit can I have with my freshly brewed cup of Toasted Southern Pecan coffee? Looking round the kitchen, the answer was...nothing; no cookies, no cake for I did no fresh baking this past weekend. Shame on me, I know.

Quick scramble, what can I bake and it doesn't take a lot of work, nor time to make? Hmmm, coffee....cake.....coffee cake!!! I'm making nachos this week, so have sour cream on hand, so let's put it all together, well without the nachos and make one such sweet dish; a sour cream coffee cake.

Nirvana is now mine...enjoy yours.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cups light brown sugar
½ tsp salt
1 cup softened butter
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp each ground cinnamon and nutmeg
½ cup sour cream
1 large egg, beaten

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350F; spray an 8” x 8” baking dish with nonstick baking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, salt and butter until crumbly; set aside 1 ½ cups. To the remaining crumb mixture, add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Spread mixture evenly into the baking dish; spread the 1 ½ cups set aside over top of the mixture. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out cleanly from center. Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

Makes 9 servings.

Mary Cokenour
September 1997

Don't throw that sauce away!

Did you ever make a recipe that centered around some type of sauce or gravy? Did you ever have a lot left over, but didn't know what to do with it, so threw it out? At the time you probably thought, "what I am going to do with this; it's not like I'm going to use it again." Why not? Granted, sauces and gravies that have dairy in them will not freeze well and when reheated will separate and/or curdle. Not so with freshly made pasta sauces chock full of tomatoes and other vegetables; even if it's only as little as 2 cups worth. They freeze well and can be reheated easily for use as is, or incorporated into other recipes.

Take for example my recipe for Chicken Cacciatore; guaranteed there will always be extra sauce left over and I freeze it for future use. I might use it to create Chicken Cacciatore again; or do a simplfied quickie version. Today was one of those "I need something" quick days and it only took 3 main ingredients, plus a little olive oil and garlic.

First I put on a large pot of salted water, high heat,to bring to a boil. That was for the 1 lb bag of frozen cheese tortellini I was going to make. Secondly, I cut up 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts halves into bite sized pieces and sprinkled a tablespoon of fine sea salt over the pieces. On the stove I had ready a large skillet with 3 Tbsp of olive oil and 1 Tbsp of minced garlic which was heating on medium heat. The chicken went into the skillet to brown in the oil/garlic mixture.

Big deal you might be saying, so how is this all going to come together for something simple and tasty? What I had waiting on the side was a 2 cup container of leftover chicken cacciatore sauce which I had defrosted overnight. Ok, chicken is nicely browned in the skillet; tortellini is floating in the water; strain the pasta and put it into the skillet; add the sauce and let it all cook together for 10 mintues.

Four servings of absolute deliciousness; and took just a little effort. Between the prep work and the actual cooking; about 30 minutes; not bad I'd say. So next time you have a couple of cups of sauce left over, don't throw it out because it just might make that quickie skillet dinner you just needed to make.

Mary Cokenour

Get Porked!!!

Back on March 9th, I did a post about pork called Pig Heaven and mentioned a technique called brining. Simply, the pork is placed in a salt water bath to help tenderize the meat, and to help open up the tissues of the meat to absorb seasonings. Pork roast itself can become tough when cooked and any flavor is usually on the outside of the meat itself. That is usually why the pork is cut up into slices or chunks before using; the smaller surface allows for greater coverage, and, therefore, flavoring.

I had found some small pork roasts on sale at the market, so decided to pick up a two pounder to try the brine method out on. The real test would be my husband, Roy, for I have not found a pork recipe he likes yet; well, except for my ribs that is; this was also another way for me to play with more Southwestern flavors. I am happy to say that hubby enjoyed this new dish and actually was looking for seconds - that is until he remembered we still had some bread pudding in the fridge.

Spicy Pork Stew


Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless pork roast, trimmed of fat
water
2 Tbsp fine sea salt
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into ½” cubes
1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 (15.5 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup green onion, ½ “pieces
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chiles (medium heat)
1 Tbsp each minced garlic, dried crushed oregano and New Mexico chile powder
2 Tbsp paprika
1 cup beef broth
Sour cream

Preparation:

Place the pork roast in a plastic container, add enough water to cover and sprinkle the salt into the water. Cover the container and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Next day, set a 4 qt crock pot on low and place all other ingredients, except sour cream, on list inside; mix together. Take the pork roast out of the salt water and immerse into the crock pot. Cover and let cook for 8 hours. Before serving, take roast out, shred and return meat to the crock pot. Serve stew with a dollop of sour cream.

Makes 6 servings.

Mary Cokenour
August 24, 2011

Turkey is not just for special occasions.

Now Roy and I wander around what is called the Four Corners area; basically where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona meet in some fashion. On our travels we like to try new places to have a meal and I'll write a review about it for my Restaurant Review page on this blog. While we love to try new dishes, we also test the merit of a restaurant by old favorites; in other words, if a restaurant can mess up something simple, then it's not worth the time nor money to go there.

Now I truly enjoy roasted turkey and my fave two ways of having it is either as a turkey club or a hot open face; both sandwiches in case you didn't know. I expect real roasted turkey just like the type you would get when carving up the turkey on Thanksgiving Day (American holiday that occurs in November). What am I getting though? Cold cut style pressed turkey...if I wanted cold cuts, I would have gone to the nearest Subway or purchased the meat from the deli section of the supermarket. I even ask the waiter or waitress, "is it made with real roast turkey or cold cut style turkey?" The response is always "real roasted turkey", but the item in the sandwich is always "cold cut style pressed turkey". So I have asked why and the answer is usually, "there's no call for it, folks are happy with what we serve or we don't have time to always serve the real stuff." Seriously? No call for real roasted turkey...I hate to think what they serve for the holiday itself then.

Sunday I decided to make a roasted turkey; a 12 lb beauty stuffed with our family's handed down through the generations stuffing. First I gave the turkey a bath in cold water making sure to pull out any missed feathers; and seasoned the inside and outside with a liberal amount of fine sea salt. After stuffing the turkey, I trussed it up, so the stuffing would not come out; and coated the skin with a mixture of melted butter and olive oil. Into the roasting pan it went with aluminum foil over top, so it would not brown too quickly and/or burn the skin. The oven setting was 350F and it would take 5 hours to get the turkey and stuffing to the properly cooked temperature and consistency.

The first 3 hours, the turkey was left alone, but then I took off the aluminum foil; gave it another basting of melted butter and olive oil; and left the bird uncovered. I repeated the basting an hour later and by the time the end of the 5th hour, the turkey was beautifully browned.

I served it with homemade mashed potatoes, gravy and mixed vegetables in a butter sauce. No, I was certainly not going the healthy meal route....I wanted a good old fashioned turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

The slices of turkey were so moist, you could see the juices flowing; the stuffing was also moist and so flavorful. Sorry though, I will not be sharing my stuffing recipe; it's a family secret that will be passed onto my son whenever he feels ready to have a turkey dinner of his own making.

Now before I forget, the turkey did come with the neck, heart, liver and kidneys tucked inside. Those were generously given to the garden shed cats, so they didn't have to worry about field mouse or bird hunting for awhile. Lets say that they had a very long and contented sleep in the grass after that meal.

Having a craving for real roasted turkey, don't deny yourself by waiting until Thanksgiving Day.

Mary Cokenour

Red Lobster is a feast in New Mexico.

Red Lobster

3451 E. Main Street
Farmington, NM, 87401

(505) 325-5222

                                                  Website: www.redlobster.com/

Main Street in Farmington is a busy and congested roadway on a Saturday; after all the shopping is done, a meal in a local restaurant is much desired.  Getting there by 4:30pm for dinner, there was already a wait list of approximately 30 minutes, but we were seated within 20 minutes.  Our waiter, Eddie, was quick to take our drink order and left us to look over the menu, including the new specials for "Crab Fest".

For appetizers, we decided on the Crab Stuffed Mushrooms; mushroom caps stuffed with chunks of crab meat and smothered in cheese.

Also the Parmesan Crab Dip; shredded crab in a creamy sauce and encrusted in a parmesan cheese layer; thin pieces of toast for either dipping in the crab mixture, or spread on with a knife.

Hubby and I were not in the mood for cracking crab legs, even though they looked very tempting, but opted for easier to eat meals. He had the Steak and Shrimp Oscar; a tender steak topped with shrimp and asparagus in a lobster cream sauce.

I decided to have the Wood Grilled Lobster Tail, Shrimp and Scallops; all perfectly cooked with the seafood succulent and seasoned well. The rice pilaf which came with the dish was moist and flavorful; the broccoli steamed, but still having a crunch to it.

Our waiter continued to be attentive, making sure our drink glasses were always filled, and that the food was very much to our liking. As much as we would have liked to have dessert, we were very content and happy with the appetizers and dinners we had just enjoyed.

Overall, the staff and atmosphere of this Red Lobster made us feel welcome and comfortable; a most definite "come back to" place.

Mary Cokenour