Green Bean Chicken Stir Fry

Green Bean Chicken Stir Fry

While growing up in the rural Midwest I overheard a number of conversations between grown men boasting about the number of quarts of green beans they had harvested and canned from their garden, as if they were talking about the number of women they had bedded at the local bar.

Snapping and canning green beans were just a normal part of summer when you're raised in Churubusco, Indiana.

I like green beans, but I want them dressed up. Plain, steamed beans really don't do much for me because I don't think they have much flavor. In my experience they are best as a canvas to paint flavors on. Green bean casserole is one of my favorite dishes — what makes it, is the creamy mushroom gravy and french onions — the beans are just filler.

With piles of green beans currently at my finger tips, I decided it was time to do something fun and have them co-star in a stir fry. I precooked the beans in a microwave steam bag first because I wanted to get them 90 percent cooked and could finish  them as they heated through with all the other ingredients.

My stir fry flavors start with ginger, garlic and onion and have a yummy sauce made of hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and teriyaki. These ingredients could make any garden vegetable delicious, and are my go to ingredients for stir fry. For protein I choose chicken.

All of this is served over a bed of rice.

To my surprise it really went a long way, with just a pound and a half of chicken and a pound of green beans I was able to make enough to easily feed four people.

Green beans aren't the sexiest vegetables to feature in stir fry, but this is a tasty way to enjoy them — weather you buy them on-sale at the store — or you're shoveling buckets of them from the garden. This is a great way to eat green beans.

Eat well, cook often ...

GREEN BEAN CHICKEN STIR FRY
Serves 4, 45 minutes
1 lb green beans, trimmed and snapped
1.5 lbs chicken thighs, boneless chunks
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 Tbs garlic, minced
1/2 C onion, sliced
1/4 C hoisin sauce
1 Tbs rice vinegar
1 Tbs teriyaki sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 C uncooked rice

Place green beans in a microwave steam bag, season with salt and 1 tablespoon of water. Seal and microwave on high for 3 1/2 minutes. Let rest 1 minute more. Open and set aside until ready to add to stir fry.

In a large pan or wok over medium-high heat, brown chicken in a little oil until cooked through 6 to 8 minutes, stir occasionally. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove chicken and add onion, cook until soft, 3 to 4 minutes, season to taste. Add ginger and garlic cook 1 minute more or until fragrant. Add beans and chicken to pan. Stir in hoisin, vinegar, sesame oil and teriyaki. Cook until heated through 5 to 6 minutes more, stirring frequently. Serve over rice.

THE RICE
Over high heat in a pot toss rice in a little oil. Add two cups of water, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer 10 to 12 minutes. Turn off heat, keep lid on tight and let rice steam 10 minutes more. Remove lid and fluff with a fork, then serve.

Deluxe Green Bean Casserole

Printable version

Since I was a little kid I have always loved green bean casserole and looked forward to it every year at Thanksgiving. My Aunt always made a batch for the occasion and it was one of just a few dishes that she ever made. Cooking wasn’t her passion so she kept it simple and green bean casserole was one of her staples. It’s made from a combination of processed ingredients and it comes together in a snap.

I have made green bean casserole several times as an adult and I have learned a few tricks to making it extra delicious.

The traditional casserole uses canned cream of mushroom soup, for this recipe I replace it with fresh sauteéd baby bella mushrooms and sausage gravy made from scratch. Bursts of flavor from the fresh mushrooms and seasoning from the sausage add an element of savoriness that the traditional dish doesn’t have. This is a simple way of taking a tasty classic and cranking up the flavor for a special treat fit for any Thanksgiving spread.

BEHIND THIS BITE

Deluxe Green Bean Casserole

As I mentioned in the intro, I have made green bean casserole many times. A few years back I watched an episode of Good Eats and host Alton Brown made it completely from scratch. This was a week or so before I would be hosting my own Thanksgiving party, so I decided to make it part of my spread. Of all the stuff I was planning to cook, I thought the scratch-made casserole would be the crown jewel. To make it from scratch requires some attention to detail, and when you’re making the Turkey and a number of other dishes at the same time, the ultimate green bean casserole might be a little too much to handle.*

I figured this out the hard way.

I had too much going on to do the recipe justice. The first task of making the crispy onions was a complete failure. With my attention elsewhere, I burnt the entire batch and had to throw them out. I didn't have the time or product to re-make them. Next, I did something wrong with the roux to make the creamy part of the recipe and it never thickened. The beans and mushrooms turned out just fine. The end result was nicely cooked green beans and sautéed mushrooms in a warm milk mixture.

People still ate it, but for me, my crown jewel became the thorn in my side.

Eat well, cook often ...

*The recipe presented in this post is really quite simple to pull off for a Thanksgiving spread, especially if you make the sides ahead. At the time, I didn't have the slightest clue on how to plan a big meal.

THE RECIPE

Deluxe Green Bean Casserole

Side for 8 to 10; 1 hour
1 lb Baby bella mushrooms, quartered
1 lb Breakfast sausage
1/4 C Flour
2 C Milk
6 C Green beans, cooked or canned
French fried onions, divided

Sauté mushrooms
Preheat oven to 350°
In a large oven-safe skillet or pot over medium heat sauté mushrooms until juices are rendered and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste at the end of cooking. Remove from pot with slotted spoon, discard liquids.

Make gravy
Brown sausage until cooked through and fat is rendered, 6 to 8 minutes. Sift in flour, stir until it soaks up liquid and coats sausage, let cook 2 minutes more. Stir in milk, bring to a simmer stirring occasionally, cook until mixture thickens into a gravy. Remove from heat.

Make casserole
Let gravy cool off heat for a few minutes. Stir in reserved mushrooms, green beans and part of the french fried onions. Bake in oven until hot bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes. Top with remaining onions, return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes more, or until onions are brown and crispy. Remove and serve.

Fresh Green Bean Casserole

Printable version

Green bean casserole is one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes. This year I went a little nutty and decided to make it from scratch. The fresh mushrooms are the biggest difference. Frozen or processed green beans are close in flavor to fresh picked and blanched, but the mushrooms in a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup have nothing on fresh baby bellas.

Going the fresh route provides big juicy and flavorful bits of mushroom which are complimented here by the addition of fresh thyme. Everything is bound together with a fresh cream sauce made from a roux. I could have went all out and made the french fried onions from scratch too, but this wasn’t the only dish I was making and the store bought onions had to suffice.

It really didn’t matter though, the fresh mushrooms were the star of the show and really helped kick this thanksgiving classic up a notch or two.

BEHIND THIS BITE
I made this casserole in two stages. When I started it, I got to the point of adding the french fried onions and I thought that I had messed up the cream. (More on that in a moment) I quit on the recipe, let it cool and then put it in the fridge to be eaten later.  I didn't think I would be publishing it here at that point.

The next afternoon when I fried a turkey, I added the french fried onions, heated it up, then topped it with more onions and browned them. It tasted great and provided a big surprise.

The cream that bound it all together was much thicker than I thought it was the night before and was why I quite on it. I didn’t pour off any of the liquid from the mushrooms and I added the beans before the flour which made the cream too runny, or so I thought. The next time I make this I will drain the extra liquid and create the cream before adding the beans. Although this recipe has flaws, it still made for a tasty thanksgiving side dish that will be good on any table, which is why I decided to share it.

I am very critical of my work and many times it is tasting the leftovers or returning to it later (like this recipe) that I surprise myself. I knew the flavors would be there, which is why I saved it to be eaten with the turkey. Good thing I continued with the documentation the next day.
 
Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE
Side for 6 to 8; 1 hour
1 lb Green beans, fresh
1 lb Baby bella mushrooms, quartered
1/4 C Unsalted butter
1/4 C Flour
2 C Milk
1 Tbs Fresh thyme
1 1/2 C French fried onions

Blanch green beans
Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add green beans and salt to taste. Cook beans 7 to 8 minutes or until cooked through, remove and place in a large bowl of ice water for at least 5 minutes, then drain.

Cook mushrooms, add beans, butter, flour
Over medium heat in an oven-safe skillet, cook mushrooms until soft and liquid rendered, 7 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add green beans and butter, cook until beans are heated through and butter has melted, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in flour and cook another 2 to 3 minutes.

Add milk, simmer, stir in onions, bake
Stir in thyme and milk and bring mixture to a simmer, cook until thickened, 5 to 6 minutes. Once thickened, stir in 2/3rds of the onions and place the remaining on top of casserole. Bake in a preheated 400° oven until onion on top are browned and crispy, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from oven and serve.

Green Bean Pizza

Printable version

When I told my Mom about making this pizza she rolled her eyes and gave me a smirk. I couldn’t help but agree. Green bean casserole on a pizza. Sounds crazy, but it was an easy experiment and I had a bowl of cooked green beans left over.

After documenting my Cajun Green Beans recipe I realized I had not taken a photograph of the green beans after they were blanched. I cooked another pound a couple days later to get the shot, which left me with a batch of beans. I knew I was going to have them which got my brain working.

My favorite green bean dish is green bean casserole. I have made it several times (Once completely from scratch) and thought that I could do something inspired by the casserole. That’s when a pizza came to mind. I thought it was worth a try.

The end result was awesome – Pizza at it’s gourmet best! I left some for Mom and when I talked to her later she agreed. We were both totally surprised. The onions and beans compliment each other and the mushroom soup mixes with the cheese for an incredible creaminess not found on your average pizza.

BEHIND THIS BITE
Green bean casserole is something I look forward to every year around Thanksgiving. Four or five years ago I decided to make it completely from scratch - Fried onions and all - after watching Alton Brown do it on an episode of good eats.

The entire recipe ended up being disaster.

I started by burning the onions, because the recipe called for them to be crisped up in the oven rather than fried and I left them in to long. After that, the cream of mushroom soup never thickened properly which left me with a thin milky sauce coating the beans and burnt onions on top. It was a gallant effort that just never came together.

I think that this year I might try to make it again from scratch, but I’ll do it with my own recipes. I’ve made cream of mushroom soup as well as french fried onion here at Behind the Bites. I may break them out and combined them into a classic turkey day treat.

Eat well, cook often ...

Cajun Green Beans

Printable version

Green beans are nearing the end of their seasonal cycle in the Midwest. Since I can remember, most of the people in my family with gardens have a large portion dedicated to the little green pods – which means an almost never-ending supply for the entire family. I used to think the Jolly Green Giant was like the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus, only he would sneak into our basement while we slept on Labor Day to stock the pantry with jars of canned green beans.

With an abundance around, I like to cook them fresh before they go bad or get canned. My favorite way to cook green beans is to blanch then, which means to boil until cooked through, then plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking process. They can then be reheated with other ingredients in the final dish.

For this recipe, after blanching the beans they are added to a mix containing Cajun seasoning and a New Orleans staple – Andouille sausage. It is served over rice for what I call Cajun Style Green Beans.

BEHIND THE BITES
I have mentioned Big John Maxwell, the Ragin’ Cajun, in several posts over the last few months and recreated some of the dishes I have cooked with him while catering weddings at the Shiloh. This dish is my first “Cajun” recipe I have attempted using John’s knowledge of cooking. It is my own creation, just inspired by some of the tid-bits I have picked up working with the Ragin' Cajun.

I basically create a stir fry with Cajun seasoning and andouille sausage. I use McCormick’s Gourmet Collection Cajun Seasoning in this dish and it does what good Cajun seasoning is supposed to do. John taught me that using a variety of different peppers like cayenne, black pepper and chilli pepper helps distribute the heat to different parts of the mouth. Individual peppers affect different areas. A great way to test this theory is to sample a jalapeno first and a habeñero second. I wouldn’t recommend eating them raw, but in sauces based with the peppers. You’ll find that the jalepeño hits right away in the front of the mouth while the habeñero take a few seconds and hits toward the back of mouth and throat. The habeñero will pack considerable more heat so beware. Good Cajun seasoning utilizes this concept and the McCormick seasoning does that well.

The Johnsonville Andouille sausage I picked up at Meijer was disappointing.  The overall recipe is really good - I will make it again for sure. I will use different andouille though, what I bought at Meijer was picked out of a meat case with hundreds of different sausages and it shows. It tasted more like a spicy smoky link, which is not bad, but I have had good andouille and I was expecting that. I’m disappointed but learned a great lesson when purchasing andouille in Fort Wayne: Go to a specialty meats retailer! Every so often it’s totally worth spending a little extra for great flavor.

This dish isn’t quite the soft shelled crab from the menu of John’s food truck, but it’s a nice start in experimenting with the flavors of New Orleans and the Bayou.

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE
Serves 4; 40 minutes  
1 lb Green beans, fresh, cleaned
1 Tbs Garlic, minced
1 C Red onion, diced
1 C Red pepper, diced
1 Tbs Cajun seasoning
1 lb Andouille Sausage, fully cooked, diced
2 C Rice
4 C Chicken, broth

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add green beans and salt to taste. Cook beans 7 to 8 minutes or until cooked through, remove and place in a large bowl of ice water for at least 5 minutes, then drain.

In a saute pan over medium heat with a little olive oil sauté onion, garlic, peppers and Cajun seasoning until soft, 5 to 6 minutes. Mix in beans and andouille. Cook until mixture is heated through, 6 to 8 minutes more. Divide mixture among plates and serve over rice.

THE RICE
In a pot, over medium high heat toss rice in a little olive oil until well coated and slightly toasted. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Cover and remove from heat. After 20 minutes, remove cover and fluff rice with a fork.

Thanksgiving: Turkey, Creamy Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans with Caramelized Onions

Printable version

It’s commonly believed that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in Plymouth colony by the pilgrims and Native Americans in 1621, but similar celebrations occurred before in Jamestown and the feasts were not held on an annual basis.

Thanksgiving wasn’t an official holiday until 1863, when Abraham Lincoln designated the last Thursday of November as a “national day of thanksgiving.” He made the declaration after key victories of the Union army in the Civil War at Vicksburg and Gettysburg. Since then every president has declared Thanksgiving a national holiday.

For this recipe, I have prepared turkey, the traditional centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal. For flavor and moisture, I soak a turkey breast in a salt brine overnight. The brine will lock in moisture and infuse the meat with the flavorful spices included in the mix. The use of a meat thermometer is also essential, the turkey is cooked to perfection when the internal temperature of the thickest part reaches 165°.


Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Printable version

No Thanksgiving dinner can be complete without mashed potatoes. For this version, I went for creamy and smooth. What does that really mean? Lots of added fat! Heavy cream and butter make these potatoes rich and decadent. The chives add a hint of onion.

This is the way I expect mashed potatoes when I order them at a nice restaurant as a side to a cut of meat or some other star on the plate. Just a nice flavorful side of potatoes. Usually, I like to add cheese, bacon bits or a more fragrant herb like rosemary or thyme. But those flavors appear elsewhere in this Thanksgiving feast and that's what makes this version so good – it's just about the potato!



Green Beans with Caramelized Onions

I bought these beans fresh the night before cooking this feast and when I cleaned them the next day I decided to leave them long and intact, rather than cut them into thirds. This choice made the final product a different experience when it came to consuming. Instead of stabbing at a pile of beans with my fork and getting 4 or 5 bean chunks on it before taking a bite, I was just fishing for one at a time, much like the way I eat asparagus. It was a different and welcomed change. I also left the beans slightly crunchy. It made for a nicer texture and gave this side a savory salad feel.

The other two elements in this dish put this one out of the park. Smoky bacon and sweet caramelized onions. Need I say more? Well yes, I need to say just a little more – the sweet onions and smoky bacon act as a smoky and sweet dressing to the beans. The bacon provides the salt in the dish, a little pepper can be thrown in if desired. The crunchy, al denté-cooked beans are the star here and the other two ingredients come along for the show, providing small hints of extra flavor.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Eat well, cook often ...