Animals Say Thanks

This is a new take on an old favorite. What is Thanksgiving without green bean casserole? I suppose it is still Thanksgiving, but somehow this casserole will make the meal pop with flavor. And speaking of pop, I’m not exactly sure what the magical equation is with this recipe, but the green beans find an amazing balance between softening while maintaining a crisp burst of green bean freshness. And why have I never thought to put fresh sweet corn into this dish? The real winner, however, is the smoked paprika – it’s subtle, and it’s wonderful. The whole combination is everything you love plus a whole lot more.

Prep: 30 minutes | Cook: 60 minutes | Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or granulated garlic is also fine)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 cup rice milk
• 1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce (Annie’s Organic is amazing)
• 5 pounds of fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1”-1.5” pieces
• 2 ears of sweet corn, kernels removed
• 2 bags of dang onion chips (you can use other French fried onions, but these are remarkable)
• 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions and let them go for 20-25 minutes. The onions need to slowly turn translucent. If the onions cook too fast and begin to bubble, reduce the heat to medium-low. In sum, this step is about slow cooking the onions and retaining the liquid.
3. Stir in the flour, salt, garlic powder, and marjoram – the mixture will be dry. Add the soy and rice milks, as well as the vegan Worcestershire sauce. Allow the mixture to come up to a simmer. Add the green beans and corn kernels. Stir to incorporate, remove from heat (we want to stop the mixture from cooking so you may need to remove the pan from the hot stove and put safely on a trivet on the counter).
4. Roughly crumble 1 bag of the dang onion chips and stir into the mixture. Add the mixture to an appropriate sized casserole dish (the dish should be approximately 2” deep). Dust the dish with the smoked paprika.
5. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the casserole from the oven. Roughly crumble the remaining bag of dang and carefully spread across the top of the casserole. Place the casserole back in the oven for another 7 minutes or until the casserole turns a beautiful golden brown.
6. Enjoy!

Notes/Tips/Thoughts

Milks: feel free to use any combination of milks you like. I like the complexity of using these two different types of milk, however you can use any combination of non-dairy milks. If you intend to use coconut milk, make sure you love the flavor of coconut as this will probably be a game changer (not bad, you should just love coconut). You can also use one type of milk if that is all you have handy.

Additionally, you could probably save a little time by using 1.5 pounds of (thawed) frozen green beans. I cannot speak to whether they will maintain their integrity when they come out of the oven.

As stated above, you can also use any brand of vegan French fried style onions. When I tried dang onion chips this year as a snack, I fell in love. I immediately knew I’d use them for this green bean and sweet corn casserole.

***As is the case with the Chanterelle Mushroom, Carrot, and Sage Stuffing, if you plan to make this dish ahead of time, say the day before and let it sit in the fridge over night… You must, absolutely must, take it out of the fridge early, and let it come up to room temperature before attempting to bake it. It won’t explode or anything, but it would be awful for you and your loved ones to end up with a mouthful of cold casserole.

With all of my love,

Shawnna

© 2016 Animals Say Thanks