This is far from your typical Durkee Green Bean Casserole; it’s a unique, soup-free green bean casserole. A friend once remarked, “Why would anyone opt for the traditional Durkee green bean casserole, a standard in American cuisine, when they could have this? This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.
The classic Durkee green bean casserole, while a staple of many tables, is laden with preservatives from canned mushroom soup, saturated in sodium, and carries unhealthy fats courtesy of the fried onions. Its nutritional value is minimal, leaving much to be desired, especially in an era where access to high-quality foods has significantly improved, diminishing its appeal to many.
Conversely, a homemade version of this casserole elevates the dish to new heights of health and flavor. Utilizing goat’s milk for its better digestibility or coconut milk for a dairy-free alternative, this casserole marries the nutritional benefits with gourmet taste. It boasts organic French green beans known for their tender texture, vibrant, life-enhancing mushrooms and shallots, and a rich, scratch-made béchamel sauce that replaces the canned soup. The addition of organic potatoes not only infuses the dish with more substance but also introduces a universally beloved element. This homemade green bean casserole is so delightful, it stands proudly as a standalone dish, ready to impress guests with its depth of flavor and wholesome ingredients. Incorporating potatoes not only adds heartiness but ensures its place as a crowd-pleaser.
Make this recipe with coconut oil and coconut milk to be a dairy free green bean casserole. Of course, once you remove the dairy, this becomes a vegan bean casserole
Fresh Green Bean Casserole Recipe: Vegan Option
Equipment
- 1 stainless steel or cast iron skillet
- 1 stainless steel saucepan (2-5 quart)
- 1 8 by 12 in mason baking dish or glass baking dish
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 lb French green beans
- 1 1/4 lb white or russet potatoes about 2 large white or medium russets
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cups coconut milk or goats milk
- 1 medium white onion
- 1 bunch parsley
- 6 sprigs thyme
- 1/2 c expeller pressed coconut oil
- 1/2 c gluten-free flour
- 1/4 – 1/2 t salt can be omitted
- 2-3 large shallots 1/4 c diced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4 ounces oyster mushrooms and/or 1 cup diced button mushrooms may be omitted or reduced in quantity
- 1/4 c chopped walnuts
Instructions
Steps:
- To construct the green bean casserole, you must first make 4 things: parboil the green beans, cook the béchamel sauce, pre-bake the sliced potato, and sauté the shallots, garlic, and mushroom. Then you can combine these four things in layers and bake your green bean casserole.
- It is likely to take 45 minutes to do these four things, then the casserole needs to be baked for 30-45 minutes. Give yourself at least 2 hours to make this dish if you are also working on other food for a meal.
- To do this in a two day section, separate pre-boiling the green beans and sauté the shallots, garlic, and mushrooms. Set the beans and mushrooms separately. (Steps 2-6, 11, 12). The béchamel sauce can be made a day ahead as well.
- Fill a large, 3 + quart size, bowl with water and add a glug of white vinegar
- Put in 2 lbs of French green beans
- Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large stockpot
Make béchamel sauce
- Make the béchamel sauce with goats milk and goat butter, or expeller pressed coconut oil. Flavor your milk for the béchamel sauce with 1/2 onion, 6 sprigs thyme, a sprinkle of oregano, and a handful of parsley, sans the top leaves. Saved parsley stems are especially good to flavor stocks and sauces.
- Place 4 cups of goat milk or coconut milk in a non-stick, teflon free sauce pan. If you are using coconut milk thin with filtered water until it is the consistency of regular milk. This will depend on the brand. Fresh coconut milk may not need to be thinned. Canned can be up to 1:1 ratio with water.
- Turn your burner on low heat and quickly whisk the milk every 45 seconds to 1 minute as you chop your onion and add other herbs.
- Add 1 medium diced onion to the milk along with the stems only of 9 parsley sprigs and 4-6 springs thyme.
- Stop the milk just before it boils.
- Let the milk seep while you parboil the green beans and get the potatoes in the oven.
Continue with the rest of the steps
- Remove green beans from wash after 10 minutes and put potatoes in the same wash.
- Cut the green beans into 1 inch sections. Remove the ends if they are not pre-snapped
- Pre-boil the green beans until they turn bright green, 3-5 minutes. Strain and set aside in the strainer.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- Slice 2-3 medium to large white potatoes into 1/4 in 4 mm sections
- Drizzle 1/4 c olive oil in a mason style or glass 8 by 11 in baking dish, repeat this in a pie pan or a small square baking dish (8 by 8 in).
- Place sliced potatoes in baking dish in no more than 1 1/2 layers (this means the second layer does not completely cover the first layer. Pre-bake the potatoes in the oven for 36 minutes, or until the potatoes can be pierced with a fork. It is better to cook them until the thinnest potato is tinged with brown, than to have any undercooked potatoes because you will need a longer baking time of your casserole if you potatoes are not done. If you want your green beans still bright with a bit of bite, your potatoes must be cooked throughly. If you plan to have well cooked green beans that melt in your mouth without much chewing, you can cut down on some of the potato cooking if you are short on time or oven space. The instructions here are for bright chewy green beans. If you want soft gummy green beans, you can reduce your pre-roast of potatoes and cook the entire dish together for longer.
Finish your béchamel sauce while the potatoes cook
- Strain the milk into a bowl.
- Wipe your pan dry and then add 1/2 c organic expeller coconut oil.
- When the oil is melted add in 1/2 c of your GF flour mix. (2 tapioca: 1 brown rice: garbanzo: sorghum flour)
- Whisk almost constantly with a wooden spoon for 8 minutes until the flour is well cooked. It should not turn brown but a slight beige color is desired.
- You should be able to manage cooking the flour for the béchamel and the step where you "continue preparing the rest of your ingredients…" if you are focused and remain next to your flour pan.
- Add in the milk while constantly whisking the flour. Continue to whisk until it comes to a boil. You can pause a bit on the whisking after the initial whisking, but need to stir constantly as it thickens and comes to a simmer. Whisk in salt. The entire process should take 8-14 minutes. Remove your sauce from the heat. It should continue to thicken.
Continue preparing the rest of the ingredients while your béchamel sauce cooks
- Finely dice 3-4 shallots and 2 cloves garlic. Begin to sauté them in olive oil.
- Add 2 ounces sliced oyster mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, or hen of the wood mushrooms, and/or 1 cup of chopped button mushrooms. Sauté until the mushrooms are juicy and shallots translucent to tinged brown. Reserve some of the prettiest slices of the mushrooms to top the casserole.
- Mushrooms can also be left out of the casserole, or even 2-4 mushrooms can be used as a flavor additive without being noticeable, this can reduce your expense.
- Take your large casserole dish with the potatoes. Layer green beans, 1/2 the shallots, and 1/2 the béchamel sauce on top. Add the next layer of potatoes from your other baking dish. Top this with green beans, shallots, and the rest of your béchamel sauce. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with your finely chopped walnuts.
- Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40-50 minutes until you reach your desired oneness (how soft you want your green beans, as well as making sure the potatoes are cooked through). Serve while hot. You may also cook for 35 minutes and then reheat when ready to serve for 15 minutes.
Notes
How Fiber Consumption Keeps You Thin, and Decreases Anxiety and Depression.
Beans, including green beans, are a highly functional food. Globally, legumes are the most important form of protein and they should be the most important form of protein for you closely followed by seeds then nuts. Beans are low in calories and high in fiber, particularly soluble fiber. It is important to consume both types of fibers in order to make your microbiome healthy.
Fiber is important to feed and proliferate healthy gut bacteria. Maintaining a homeostatic equilibrium of healthy gut bacteria versus unhealthy gut bacteria is essential for the prevention of disease state. This is also essential for maintaining a healthy weight. A healthy weight is vital to the proper hormonal and metabolic functions of you body. A healthy gut is also imperative for mental health, over 70% of your serotonin is produced in your gut. This serotonin goes to your brain and nervous system for their functioning. Depression, inability to concentrate, brain fog, nervousness, anxiety, and many other nervous system issues are caused by poor gut function, not poor brain function. Consuming a high amount of soluble fiber increases the amount of bacteria in the genus Firmicutes which results in better gut health translating into better brain health. High amounts of these bacteria also occur in thin people and lower amounts are in people with a disease state. That is, people that are thin and have healthy metabolic profiles have high amounts of the genus Firmicutes, and people that are overweight and have unhealthy metabolic profiles have higher levels of the genus Bactericides.
Vegetables generally have insoluble fiber. Both soluble and insoluble types of fiber contribute to healthy functioning of the organism depending on how the fiber substrate ferments according to it’s unique oligosaccharide and biochemical makeup. Fermentation in the gut gives substrates for the growth of healthy bacteria which in turn synthesize butyrate, a compound that has many roles in the body, mainly providing fuel for the cells that line your gut (colonocytes). Butyrate and other short chain fatty acids also play other roles in the body such as the prevention of inflammation. It is important to maintain lower levels of inflammation because high levels of inflammation can interfere with your nervous system functioning and increase anxiety/depression.
Both types of fiber control gastrointestinal transit time which affect blood glucose, insulin, and lipid levels. This means that when you consume fiber, food moves slower through your intestines and this stabilizes your energy levels through a slower and more stable release of blood sugar and fat into your blood. In itself, this helps prevent fat storage or glucose(carbohydrates) being stored as fat. It also stabilizes hormone levels which will make you feel calm and happy.
