Green Bean & Potato Casserole

 

This side dish I am sharing today, is one from out of my Big Blue Binder that I was given by a Mennonite friend many years ago.  I will tell you one thing about  the Mennonites, they sure know how to cook delicious food! 

 

My big blue binder is an old binder that I have been lugging around with me all through my life since I was about 9 or 10 years old.  I have been collecting recipes in it from friends, and magazines and library books, etc. for all of that time. It is old now, and falling apart, but it is a treasure to me.  Filled to over-flowing with love. I did write a book about it a few years back, which you can buy on Lulu, which only a small sampling of what is actually in the Binder. Maybe I need to do a second volume.

 

In the original recipe my friend used home canned green beans.  I don't can my own green beans (I don't expect many do these days) so I use a tin from the shops. I buy the mixed yellow and green beans.  You could also cook an equivalent in fresh beans to use in their place if you wanted to. 

 

Along with the beans there is a quantity of cooked potatoes, cubed.  I confess I have also used tinned new potatoes in the past with great success.  Just drain well, rinse them off and then cube them.  They work great.

 

These are combined with a homemade cheese sauce.  My friend always used undiluted evaporated milk, but I just use regular whole milk (whole fat) which works perfectly.  I am sure skim milk would also work, although you might not have quite as rich a sauce.

 

There is also sauteed onion and celery in the sauce and a quantity of seasoning. Mix the vegetables, and sauce together and pour it into a buttered casserole dish.

 

I top it with crushed cracker crumbs and crumbled cooked streaky bacon.  You could butter the cracker crumbs and leave out the bacon if you wanted to.  You could even leave out the bacon and mix the cracker crumbs with some more grated cheese.

 

I like to use a whole wheat buttery crumbly cracker for this.  More fibre and GI friendly.

 

I think you could also add some cubes of cooked meat to this if you wanted to.  Ham, or pork, or chicken/turkey would work very well, as would browned ground meat.

 

It really is very adaptable.

 

Its not much to look at  . . .  ie. not the most attractive crayon in the box, but I can promise you that what it lacks in appearance it more than makes up for in taste.

 

I really love these fabulous old recipes.  They are thrifty and delicious.  They use simple ingredients. Nothing fancy here.  They are solid, trustworthy and reliable, which were pretty much the values that people lived by in days gone past.  Oh, I sometimes long for simpler times, don't you?

 

Yield: 6Author: Marie Rayner

Green Bean & Potato Casserole

prep time: 15 minscook time: 35 minstotal time: 50 mins

This is a delicious side dish will have your family clamouring for seconds.

ingredients:

1 (400g) tin of cooked green beans, drained well (14 oz tin)

(1 1/2 cups cooked beans)

2 medium potatoes, cooked and cubed (1 cup)

1 stalk celery diced (1/2 cup)

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

4 slices streaky bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 TBS butter

1 1/2 TBS flour

240ml whole milk (1 cup)

120g grated strong cheddar cheese (1 cup)

salt and black pepper to taste

10  buttery crackers

instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F./gas mark 4.  Butter a 1 litre/1 Qt casserole dish and set aside.

Put
 the potatoes and beans into a bowl.  Melt the butter over medium heat.
 Add the onion and celery and cook for several minutes until softened
without browning.  Stir in the flour and cook for a further minute. 
Slowly stir in the milk and cook, stirring constantly, until bubbling and
 thickened.  Stir in the cheese to melt.  Season to taste with salt and
black pepper.  Pour over the potatoes and beans.  Mix to combine well
and pour into the prepared casserole dish.  Crumble the crackers over
top.  Crumble the bacon over the crackers.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until well heated through, bubbly and golden brown.  Serve hot.

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

I really hope you will make this and if you do that you will enjoy it.  Come back and let me know how you get on!  Lets share!  Bon Appetit!