The Green Bean Casserole Alternative

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

Green bean casserole was not a part of my Thanksgiving upbringing. Green beans were, but not the casserole. Likewise with sweet potatoes and yams. They may have been served in the white ceramic dishes sometimes called casseroles, but the burnt marshmallow and sugar toppings I was familiar with from television commercials were not to be found on our dinner table.

Before you bemoan my deprived childhood let me assure you, I never went hungry. Our table, like most Americans, was filled with carved turkey, mashed potatoes, yams or sweet potatoes, my grandmother’s cranberry relish, and at least one, if not more, dishes of something green.

I suspect my mother’s menu decisions were largely driven by health. Those were the days when margarine always stood in for butter and mashed potatoes made fluffier with nothing more fattening than 2% milk. But to say it was just about health would be missing a larger point: fresh vegetables usually taste better when prepared simply.

Eschewing thick sauces and canned goods in favor of olive oil and fresh ingredients is hard to reconcile with one of Thanksgiving’s most famous sides, the green bean casserole. This is a dish that could be prepared exclusively with foods salvaged from a bomb shelter. Frozen or canned green beans are mixed with condensed cream of mushroom soup and topped with canned, fried onions. It is a throwback to an earlier chafing dish, canned food era. Yet while the Cold War ended long ago, the green bean casserole has kept a place on the Thanksgiving table.

I am not one to mess with traditions and if this is one that must be on the table so be it. But hear me out: by the time the green bean casserole is covered in a thick encasement of cream, it tastes nothing like the vegetable from whence it came. And in a meal where there are no shortage of creamy, rich, mouth-coating dishes maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t hurt to have one green thing that tastes like it’s green.

Another advantage of going fresh with green side dishes is that it tends to free up oven space. (I’ve never quite understood how so many casseroles and a turkey are supposed to fit in one oven.) Fresh green beans can be blanched in boiling water hours before dinner service. Come time to eat, sauté some shallots in olive oil or butter and toss with the beans to reheat. If you are really missing that fried onion crunch, consider a sprinkling of toasted almonds or chopped pecans.

But no need to stop at green beans. My mother never did. If you are feeling like big leafy greens, chard and kale are abundant, cheap, and quick cooking. Add some chopped bacon or crumbled chorizo for an ever-so-slight indulgent twist. Broccoli rabe with raisins and pine nuts, an Italian classic, has just the right mix of sweet and crunch, and can be made on the stove while the turkey rests. Brussels sprouts, long reviled by vegetable-haters, are enjoying their own renaissance. Pan-fried in garlic infused olive oil and splashed with balsamic or sherry vinegar, Brussels sprouts can add a punch of flavor and texture to any Thanksgiving spread.

This Thanksgiving if you need to keep the green bean casserole for tradition’s sake, go ahead. Just consider finding room on the table for what could be a new tradition, a lighter, bright, fresh green vegetable side. Even at my house people can change. The steamed sweet potatoes of yore have in recent years been replaced with, you guessed it, a low-fat casserole.

Serves/Makes: 8

• 2 pounds red chard (preferably with thin stems)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 shallots
• 4 ounces chorizo, cured
• salt and black pepper
• lemon juice