Not your mother's green bean casserole

Fall has hit. I know I already dedicated a whole post to my excitement. But just in case you missed the memo. ITS HERE! Portland won't be dry again until next July.

With fall comes comfort food. As a kid this was usually in the form of my mother's clam chowder, chicken bake or the ultimate friday during lent tradition--- tuna noodle casserole.

Our family abstained from the cornflake topping or whatever you crazies would put on top. No our dish was warm and delicious and ultimately simple; literally three ingredients: bow tie pasta, canned tuna, Campbell's cream of mushroom soup.

We all grew up on Campbell's soup concentrates. I mean, tell me you can't hear the noise in your head of the mystery mix coming out of the can in one gelatinous slhhhlahhpp.

Now, call me snotty, call me informed, but I don't bake with campbell's soup anymore. And well we'll just blame my glutardness, but the noodle part of tuna noodle is right out.

So I'm just left with tuna, not as comforting.

But my lovely fiance grew up with a different mushroom soup casserole, a holiday favorite of many, but totally new to me: Green Bean Casserole.

Refusing to make the campbells soup/french onion version ( I know I'm so mean), I promised I'd make him a better version from scratch.

He scrunched up his nose as if to say "Yeah, good luck with that."

Well I finally delivered on that promise yesterday.
I made some awesomely tasty green bean casserole. (Sans, as of course was pointed out to me, the fried onions)

Ingredients

• 2 tbl bacon fat, divided.
• 1 pound mushrooms(crimini or white), sliced thinly
• 1 large leek, green stems removed, quartered and diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 ounces heavy cream
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 tsp arrowroot powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 pound fresh green beans, stems removed, cut into 1 inch pieces

Preheat oven to 400F.
In a large saucepan, warm 1 tbl bacon fat over medium heat. Add diced leek and mushroom, and saute for 5 minutes, until leeks soften and mushrooms start to release moisture. Add garlic to the mushrooms and increase heat, cooking for 3-4 more minutes. Add chicken stock, salt and pepper Scrape bottom of pan and mix to incorporate. Cook on high for 5-7 minutes, letting the liquid reduce. Add the heavy cream and reduce heat to medium.  Lightly dust the arrowroot powder over the dish and mix well to incorporate (you dont want lumps!). Let simmer and thicken for 5-10 minutes on medium-low heat.
While mushroom sauce is cooking, spread the remaining tbls of bacon fat on the bottom of a small casserole dish and layer cut green beans on top. Pour mushroom sauce over the top of green beans and cover dish with foil.
Bake at 400F for 20 minutes.


*Note, if dairy is on your no-no list, you could replace the cream with full fat coconut milk. The flavor profile will be slightly different. But it could be worth a shot!