Vegetables

Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
4 medium onions, sliced
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
Freshly ground black pepper
³⁄₄ cup beef broth
¹⁄₄ cup red wine
1 ¹⁄₂ cups croutons (Sometimes I just toast bread cubes, other times I use garlic and butter croutons)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded or sliced
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded

Instructions
1. Heat broiler. 

2. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and sauté, stirring occasionally, until tender.  Sprinkle flour and pepper over onions, stir to combine.  Stir in broth and red wine, increase heat to high and continue stirring until thickened and bubbly.  Transfer to 8 by 8 inch baking dish. 

3. Toss croutons with 2 tablespoons melted butter and spread over top of onions.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Broil until cheese just melts, about 1 to 2 minutes. 

Comments
This recipe is from my mom and it’s one that I ask her to make every year at Christmas.  The onions are soft and yummy.  This was my gateway into loving French onion soup, something I hadn’t even wanted to try before having this casserole.  We’ve vegetarianized it for my brother by using vegetable broth for the beef broth, or using 1 cup of red wine and omitting the broth all together.  Both methods work well. 

The onions do reduce significantly so you might want to double this is you’re serving more than 4 onion lovers.  If you’re feeling really decadent, cook the onions with the butter on low for forever until they’re caramelized.  I love these onions. 

Shown here with Herb Rubbed Sirloin Tip Roast and Garlic Butter Roasted Mushrooms.

Person - Mom

Ingredients
1 pound button mushrooms, halved if large
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped
3 large cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
¹⁄₄ cup fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 450*F. 

2. Toss mushrooms with capers, garlic, oil and ¹⁄₈ teaspoon each salt and pepper in a 9 by 9-inch baking dish.  Top with butter pieces and roast, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are tender, about 20 to 40 minutes.  (Cooking time will depend entirely on how roasted you want your mushrooms to be.)

3. Stir in lemon juice and parsley before serving. 

Comments
Shortly before Christmas I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and immediately emailed it to my mom as a suggestion for Christmas dinner.  She, being a lover of all things mushrooms, quickly agreed.  This is a great alternative to sautéed mushrooms when you’re looking for something to serve alongside a delicious steak or cow roast. The sauce is luscious, the mushrooms are well seasoned, and it’s super simple.  If you use a mini-processor attachment of a hand blender to chop up the garlic and capers, it’s even easier.  Be sure to double the recipe if you’ve got lots of mushroom lovers, 1 pound of mushrooms doesn’t go very far!

Shown here with Herb Rubbed Sirloin Tip Roast and French Onion Casserole.

Internet - Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¹⁄₂ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cups half and half
1 pound frozen cut green beans, cooked and drained
6 ounces French’s fried onions

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350*F. 

2. Melt the butter in a large oven-safe skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms give up some of their liquid, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and nutmeg and continue to cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir to combine, cook for 1 minute. Add the broth and half and half. Bring to a simmer and stir until the mixture thickens, about 5 to 10 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and stir in half of onions and all green beans.  Bake 25 minutes or until hot and bubbling.  Stir well, top with remaining onions and bake until onions are browned, about 5 minutes. 

Comments
This recipe is my attempt at combining the two previous green bean casseroles I’ve posted.  It was mostly good, but it was still missing something.  I think, maybe, it needed the addition of soy sauce?  I’ll be updating this again in a month or so once I make it again. 

Shown here with Pineapple Stuffing and ham.

Person - Gwen

Ingredients
1 tablespoon pine nuts
3 tablespoons peanut oil
1 ¹⁄₄ pounds green beans, ends trimmed
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Instructions
1. Toast pine nuts in dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan often to keep nuts from getting too brown, until evenly golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove nuts to small bowl.

2. Heat oil in skillet over high heat. When the oil is hot, add green beans and cook, stirring to 3 to 4 minutes, until almost tender. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add soy sauce and pine nuts and stir for another minute, until the green beans are cooked and soy sauce has thickened. Toss with balsamic vinegar and serve.

Note: Broccoli can be used instead of green beans, cook for an extra minute or two. 

Comments
This recipe is from The Food You Want to Eat.  It was extremely quick and simple, and also full of flavor.  The balsamic and soy sauce came together to create a delicious vegetable dish and the green beans were perfectly cooked and crisp.  I might leave out the pine nuts in the future since they didn’t add much to the beans. 

Shown here with Brie-Topped Chicken Breasts.

The Food You Want to Eat

Ingredients
26 ounces condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 ¹⁄₂ cups milk
1 tablespoon soy sauce
¹⁄₂ teaspoon pepper
48 ounces frozen cut green beans, cooked and drained
6-9 ounces French’s fried onions

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350*F.  

2. Mix all except ¹⁄₂ of the onions in a 3 quart shallow baking dish.  Bake for 25 minutes or until hot throughout.  

3. Remove from oven and stir.  Sprinkle with remaining onions and bake for 5 more minutes.

Comments
This, of course, is the green bean casserole recipe that is on bags/cans of green beans, the fried onion canisters, and cans of cream of mushroom soup.  My family prefers the taste and texture of frozen green beans and I remember, every year, that it’s important to cook the beans first.  I forgot that crucial step during my first Thanksgiving with Art and he couldn’t fathom why I loved the dish so much.  Now that I make it correctly, he is a believer.

I was not able to find french cut green beans for Thanksgiving 2009, so I had to make this with regular cut green beans.  It was a bit soupier than usual, but still delicious.  Perhaps cutting back on the milk would have been wise.

Update ¹¹⁄₂₀₁₀: I tweaked all of the ingredient amounts from the originally posted recipe to the amounts shown above.  These amounts yield a perfect green bean casserole that isn’t runny at all.  Sadly I didn’t take a new picture, but believe me that the resulting casserole will be a much better consistency!

Shown here with Turkey and Sweet Potato Casserole.

Unknown

Ingredients
3-4 tomatoes, cut into ¹⁄₂-inch slices (Good, beefy tomatoes are the best.)
¹⁄₂ cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
¹⁄₄ cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, shredded or grated
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 400*F.  Spread tomato slices on parchment-lined baking sheet in single layer.  Mix remaining ingredients in small bowl.  Divide topping mixture between tomato slices and bake until cheese is melted and lightly browned, about 10 minutes.  Serve warm. 

Comments
This recipe was mentioned to us by Art’s parents a few weeks ago and a bit of googling led me to the South Beach Diet.  The original recipe is a stuffed plum tomato recipe but I have better access to non-plum tomatoes so I adapted it for tomato slices instead.  These were super tasty and easy to make, Art loved them.  Pine nuts would be a tasty addition to the mix if desired.

Internet - South Beach Diet

Ingredients
1 pound frozen Brussels sprouts
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
¹⁄₄ teaspoon kosher salt
¹⁄₄ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
1. Put all ingredients in slow cooker and toss to combine.  Cover and cook on LOW for 4 hours or HIGH for 2.  Stir before serving. 

Comments
This recipe is from A Year of Slow Cooking.  I can’t get fresh Brussels sprouts with any reliability locally, so I used frozen petite ones instead.  I think this recipe had a lot of potential, but the Brussels sprouts were extremely overcooked and not very appetizing.  I want to make these again, and soon, but I’ll be reducing the cooking time quite a bit.  I was thinking that I’d try cooking on LOW for just an hour and testing them for doneness.  I’ll update the recipe once I’ve figured it out.

Internet - A Year of Slow Cooking

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₈ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 ¹⁄₄ cups milk (Or a combination of half and half and milk.)
1 ¹⁄₂ cups cheddar cheese, shredded (Other cheeses, or a combination of cheeses, would work well.)
16 ounces frozen peas (Not petite peas, try to get larger ones.)

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350*F.

2.  Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Then add flour, salt, and pepper and stir to combine, making a roux.

3. Add milk, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick, bubbly and smooth. Remove from heat and add 1 cup cheese, stirring until cheese is melted.  Add peas and stir to coat. 

4. Pour everything into 9 by 9-inch baking dish.  Sprinkle remaining cheese over top and bake for 30 minutes or until dish is bubbling and hot and top is lightly browned.  Switch oven to broil and broil casserole for 2 to 3 more minutes until top crisps. 

Comments
This recipe is from The Enchanted Cook.  I love peas, but it’s rare that I want a big pile of plain peas on my plate.  (Yay alliteration?)  This recipe provides a great option for peas that isn’t just a pile of plain ones.  I thought it was tasty, especially when combined with roasted potatoes and chicken.  I will definitely be making this gratin in the future. 

Shown here with Swiss Chicken Cutlets and Roasted Potatoes.

Internet - The Enchanted Cook

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, plus more for drizzling
2 potatoes, scrubbed and sliced (about ¹⁄₂ pound)
2 large zucchini or yellow squash, sliced into rounds (about ¹⁄₂ pound)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350*F. 

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large oven safe skillet or pot over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes until starting to soften.  Add 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, lower heat, and cook a few more minutes until nicely browned. 

3. Spread onion mixture evenly over bottom of pan. Layer potatoes and squash on top.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and drizzle with a little more olive oil. 

4. Bake at 350*F for 30 minutes then drizzle with a little more balsamic vinegar.  Bake for 10 more minutes or until potatoes are cooked through.

Comments
This recipe is from The Creative Pot and, while mine did not look nearly as fantastic as the original, it was delicious.  I actually had to make it in the Big Green Egg because my oven had died, but I’m happy to report that the Egg works quite well as a substitute oven.  I used summer squash because that’s what had come in my CSA box.  I also used small new potatoes for the same reason.  I would be very happy to make this again, even in the grill! 

Shown here with grilled flank steak and Chimichurri.

Internet - The Creative Pot

Ingredients
²⁄₃ cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₄ teaspoon pepper
2 eggs
2 teaspoons water
²⁄₃ cup plain bread crumbs
48 zucchini sticks, 3 x ¹⁄₂ x ¹⁄₂ inches, from 2 large zucchini or 4-6 smaller zucchini
Oil for deep frying

Instructions
1. Combine flour, oregano, salt and pepper in a shallow dish.  In a second shallow dish, beat eggs together with water. Place bread crumbs in a third shallow dish. 

2. Working with 4 to 6 sticks at a time, toss zucchini in flour, then in egg, and then coat in bread crumbs.  Spread sticks on baking sheet and chill 1 hour. 

3. Heat oil (4 to 6 cups) in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over high heat until it bubbles when a few bread crumbs are tossed in. 

4. Add zucchini sticks to oil a few at a time, being careful not to crowd the pot.  Cook, turning occasionally, until golden, about 1 to 2 minutes.  Drain on paper towels and serve with warmed marinara sauce. 

Comments
I recently found out that my great friend loves zucchini most of all.  I’m not sure why it took me so long to learn but the knowledge was good inspiration to make zucchini sticks.  This recipe is from the fantastic 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles.  It’s the cookbook that’s been in my collection longest and this was one of the first recipes I tried from the book.  The sticks are delicious and crunchy and pair very well with a simple marinara sauce.   They come together very easily which makes for a nice appetizer.

1,000 Vegetarian Recipes