Creamy Baby Portobello Green Bean Casserole

Start to finish: 1 hour
Impresses: 12

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces baby portabello mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced
2 pounds green beans, cleaned with stalk ends trimmed
3 tablespoons salted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups heavy cream
½ small white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups French’s® crispy fried onions
Kosher salt and pepper, to taste 

Method

Heat oven to 350 F. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add mushrooms and stir to coat. Sprinkle with kosher salt and stir. Allow mushrooms to release their natural moisture, and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. While mushrooms cook, blanch green beans. To do this, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to just simmering. Working in batches, place handfuls of green beans in the pot, and cook for 30 seconds. Using a large, slotted spoon, remove the beans to a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Repeat this process until all beans are blanched. Remove from ice water, and place beans in a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish and set aside.

Once mushrooms are browned, remove from pan and set aside. Melt butter in the same pan over medium heat and whisk in the flour to create a roux. Cook for a few minutes, whisking constantly, until roux is golden brown. Slowly whisk in heavy cream to create a smooth sauce. Stir in onion and garlic, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook sauce, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Never bring the sauce to a boil, or it will curdle and separate. Stir mushrooms into sauce. Pour sauce over green beans and add 1 cup fried onions. Stir everything together until all beans are coated in sauce and in an even layer in the pan. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until beans are tender. Top with remaining fried onions and cook for 5 additional minutes.

Make-ahead instructions: Prepare casserole through mixing the mushroom cream sauce with the beans. Allow to cool before covering the dish with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. When ready to bake, remove the plastic wrap, add fried onions and bake as directed.