Today, we are “making it our own” alongside our friends at Anolon. This Spiced Green Bean Casserole packs great flavor and crunch, so keep reading to see how we made this classic side dish, our own!
I am excited to be part of Anolon‘s Make It Yours campaign, where a few food bloggers and I take holiday side dishes from our favorite cookbooks, food blogs, friends, family, and add our own twists to it! For this specific campaign, I choose to take the traditional green bean casserole and make it a little more spiced, a little more Caribbean/Latin. Because I grew up in the Dominican Republic, this was a dish I had honestly never even tasted but had always intrigued me. It had that all-American appeal to me and with the help of Anolon, I whipped in som extra flavor into it! Here’s how I made it my own.
Over medium heat, I sautéed sliced baby portobello mushrooms and green cubanelle peppers. Cubanelle peppers (pimientos cubanela) are typically used in Latin cuisine – they’re sweet and juicy, not spicy at all but add great flavor. If you can’t find these, use regular green peppers. In the photo above, pictured is the Anolon 10-inch Skillet.
While the mushrooms and peppers are sautéing, steam the green beans. Make sure to trim and wash them throughly. I like to steam them for no more than 10 minutes, leaving them a bit firm. No one likes mushy green beans. In the photo above, pictured is the Anolon Three-Piece Steamer Set.
To spice up the traditional béchamel sauce in tis dish, we simmered a hot pepper in the milk before making the sauce, as well as a bay leaf. Some other spices were added for heat and flavor! In the photo above, pictured is the Anolon 2.5 Quart Covered Saucier.
Stir in the sautéed vegetables to make a luscious cream sauce. Seriously, you’ll want to just spoon this right into your mouth!
The mushroom & pepper sauce is poured over the steamed fresh green beans, and each bean is covered in goodness.
Now, go heat your oven to 350F and pour the creamy green beans into an oven safe dish.
While classically topped with French’s Onions, we decided to set it up a notch and toss thinly sliced onions into a mixture of cornmeal and spices. Deep fry those babies and they’ll be your go to topping for every other green bean casserole you’ll ever make! They’re also great on salads, in sandwiches, and in burgers!
Spiced Green Bean Casserole
Ingredients
For the cornmeal chili dusted onions
- 1 large onion peeled
- ⅓ cup cornmeal
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
For the mushroom green pepper sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 ounces mushrooms
- 1 green pepper diced
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 dried hot pepper like habanero
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
For the green beans
- 24 ounces green beans trimmed and washed
Instructions
- For the onions: thinly slice whole onion, either with a knife or a mandolin. Toss in a mixture of the cornmeal, flour and chili powder. Fry in about 4 inches of canola oil at 325F for around 3 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Remove from oil and reserve to the side.
- For the sauce: sauté mushrooms and green pepper in olive oil until tender in a sauté pan. In a separate saucepan, whisk together the butter and flour over medium heat. Pour in milk, paprika, cumin, and salt. Add dried pepper and bay leaf and simmer until it thickens, for about 10 minutes.
- For green beans: steam over water for 6-8 minutes. Remove and add into pan with mushroom sauce. Place in oven-proof dish and top with onions. Bake for 10 minutes at 350F.
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Anolon and I’ve received compensation for my time and work. As always, recipes and opinions are 100% my own.
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