Creamy Green Beans with Fried Onions Recipe from Mission Street Food

For our Thanksgiving menus this year, we decided to call in some ringers—fantastic chefs from different corners of the country, with very different takes on American cuisine. We’re proud to share with you updated traditionalist recipes from Michael Anthony of New York City’s Gramercy Tavern, Latin-Jewish flavors from Michelle Bernstein of Miami’s Michy’s, and the tricked-out hackers’ Thanksgiving from Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz of San Francisco’s Mission Street Food. Plus, special guest appearances from Nathan Myhrvold and the Modernist Cuisine team, in case your holidays won’t be complete without some carbonated cranberries. Special thanks to Fishs Eddy for the awesome props and Saipua for the stunning flowers. Enjoy! – Ed.

For a glorious homemade green bean casserole, buy prepared crispy onions and spend your time doing better things, like lovingly reducing the cream and ever-so-carefully searing your oyster mushrooms so they’re a deep brown all over—it’s worth it.

Creamy Green Beans with Fried Onions
Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz, Mission Street Food
Serves 8-10

2½ pounds haricots vert, or green beans
2 quarts cream
1 pound oyster mushrooms
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 ounces Durkee fried onions
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon butter (or turkey fat)
1 tablespoon flour
1-2 shallots, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Heat a large pot of salty-tasting water to a rolling boil and blanch the beans for about 20 seconds. Quickly drain them and transfer the hot beans to a bowl of ice water to cool down quickly. When cold, drain again and set aside.
2. Heat the cream at a gentle simmer in a heavy bottomed pot and reduce it to just less than half its original volume, being careful not to scorch the cream or let it boil over. Remove from heat and reserve.
3. Trim oyster mushrooms into slivers about the size of your pinky. In a large pan, heat the olive oil until shimmering and add mushrooms. Jostle the pan so they fall into a single layer, and allow to caramelize by searing undisturbed for a minute or 2. (If the mushrooms don’t fit in one layer in the pan, remove some and do this in batches.) Now toss the mushrooms around to finish browning on all sides, then remove from heat, season with salt and pepper, and reserve.
4. Make a roux by heating up the butter (or turkey fat) in a saucepan on medium-low heat and whisking in the flour. Keep whisking it until it is golden brown all over, then slowly whisk in the reduced cream. Once the cream has come up to a boil, remove from heat and season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne.
5. Toss the cream mixture with the beans and mushrooms and place in a roasting pan. Top with fried onions and shallots and bake at 400°F for 20 minutes, or until golden brown, watching closely to avoid burning.

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