Pumpkin pies

Grown-up Green Bean Casserole

Happy Thanksgiving!

I found this recipe on MarthaStewart.com about 10 years ago (it's no longer posted there) and I've made it for Thanksgiving ever since. It is infinitely better than the gloppy mushroom soup/French's onion version. It's grown-up because it's topped with fried shallot rings, so delicious! Not kidding, I've had people tell me it was their favorite part of the meal - the green bean casserole wha?!

Every year I search my unpublished archives for it, so I'm just posting it again for easy future reference for myself, and also to share with yous alls. Enjoy!



Green Bean Casserole

Serves 8
For this gourmet take on a potluck classic, the casserole is assembled and the shallots are cooked ahead of time. Just before serving, pop the dish under the broiler for about 10 minutes.


6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for dish
1 medium onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 pound button mushrooms, stems trimmed, quartered
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of grated nutmeg
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup canola oil
4 shallots, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch rings

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add onion, and sauté until it begins to soften, about 4 minutes. Add bell pepper and mushrooms, and cook until softened and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 8 minutes. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside to cool.

2. Prepare an ice bath: Fill a large bowl with ice and water; set aside. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Add beans, and cook until bright green and just tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain, and plunge into ice bath to stop cooking. When cooled, toss drained beans with mushroom mixture; set aside.

3. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add 1/4 cup flour, whisk constantly until mixture begins to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Pour in milk, and continue whisking until mixture has thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in cayenne, nutmeg, and the remaining teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Pour over beans, and toss to combine.

4. Butter a 9-by-13-inch glass or ceramic baking pan. Spread half the green-bean mixture over the bottom. Sprinkle on half the grated Parmesan, and spread with the remaining green beans. Combine the remaining Parmesan and the breadcrumbs, and sprinkle over casserole. Cover with foil, and refrigerate until just before serving.

5. Heat canola oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Toss shallot rings with the remaining 2 tablespoons flour. Fry the shallots in batches, turning frequently, until golden brown. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Place in an airtight container, and set aside until ready to serve.

6. Heat broiler, positioning rack about 8 inches from heat. Cook casserole, covered, until mixture is bubbly and heated through, about 10 minutes. Uncover, and cook until top is golden brown, about 30 seconds. Sprinkle fried shallots over top, and serve immediately.

Book club discussion ideas for "Pilgrim's Wilderness"

My book club  (now going on 2 years!) just read and discussed Pilgrim's Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier by Tom Kizzia. It was a tough book to get through because of the violence and abuse perpetrated by the "main character", Papa Pilgrim, but a riveting read nevertheless, showing many examples (in those children) of the incredible resilience of humans - even after enduring the harshest conditions. 

Before my group met, I scoured the internet for discussion questions, fearing that we might get stuck on "he's such a monster"-type comments that we wouldn't talk about much else. I didn't find anything, so I wrote my own and thought I'd share them here.

1. This is a work of non-fiction that reads like a novel. It had a beginning, a middle and an end. It was suspenseful (even though most readers may know the outcome); the characters were developed over the course of the narrative... What do you think contributed to the readability of this book about a subject so dark?

2. There were many colorful characters in the book – “McCarthy Annie”, the lodge owner, the homesteaders who’d lived through the Mail Day Massacre, not to mention the Pilgrim family. Knowing how the book ends, did you find it hard to sympathize with those in Alaska who took Papa Pilgrim’s side in the beginning part of the book?At any point did you sympathize with Papa Pilgrim?

3. Kizzia goes into great depth writing about the land use issues and treating both sides pretty fairly. What did you think about the homesteaders/land-users vs. the Park Service? What about the old timers vs. the newcomers' views on "their" land?

4. The Pilgrim children, especially Elishaba, suffered heartbreaking abuse beyond what many of us can imagine, yet many of them retain their faith in god. How do you think they were able to do this when their example of spiritual leadership had been their father?

5. Robert Hale aka Papa Pilgrim went from a life of upper-middle class privilege to isolation, narcissism and madness. What were your thoughts about his life’s path? For instance, do you think he was always evil or did he slowly descend into crazytown the older he became?

6. Truman Capote said of writing another true crime non-fiction book, In Cold Blood, “This book was an important event for me. While writing it, I realized I just might have found a solution to what had always been my greatest creative quandary. I wanted to produce a journalistic novel, something on a large scale that would have the credibility of fact, the immediacy of film, the depth and freedom of prose, and the precision of poetry.” Do you think Kizzia accomplished those things in this book?

7. The author’s relationship with his wife who is suffering from cancer, and then eventually dies from it, is a quiet aside in this story. It wasn’t integral to the telling of the Pilgrim story; what do you think it added (or didn’t) to the book?