In search of the perfect macaroni and cheese: Thanksgiving 2012

As I said earlier, I'm catching up on blogposts. This year for Thanksgiving, Scott and I stayed up in Nor Cal and had the opportunity to house-sit at our friends Lynelle and Derek's house. It was so very lovely having already written the painstakingly long Thanksgiving post last year, as I had most of my recipes already in one place (see http://insearchoftheperfectmacaroniandcheese.blogspot.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-feast.html). However, I did decide to try a couple of new recipes and thought I'd blog about them just to share.

Green Bean Casserole from http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Green-Bean-Casserole

INGREDIENTS

3 cups chicken stock
½ oz. dried shiitake mushrooms, stemmed
Kosher salt, to taste
2 lbs. green beans, cut into 2" pieces
Canola oil
1¼ cups flour
2 small yellow onions, thinly sliced
5 tbsp. butter
⅓ cup heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Bring stock to a boil in a small pot. Remove from heat; add mushrooms. Cover; let soften for 20 minutes. Strain; reserve broth. Thinly slice mushrooms; set aside. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add green beans; cook until tender, 6–7 minutes. Chill beans in an ice bath; drain and pat dry.

2. Pour oil into a large pot to a depth of 2". Heat over medium-high heat until oil registers 350° on a deep-fry thermometer. Put 1 cup flour into a bowl. Working in batches, toss onions in flour; shake off excess and fry until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel–lined plate and season with salt.

3. Heat oven to 375°. Grease an 8"× 8" casserole with 1 tbsp. butter; set aside. Melt remaining butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in remaining flour; cook for 1 minute. Pour in reserved broth while whisking; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Whisk in cream and combine with beans, half the onions, reserved mushrooms, and salt and pepper in a bowl; transfer to casserole. Top with remaining onions; bake until bubbly, about 20 minutes.

Cranberry Sauce (recipe from Trader Joe's cranberry bag)

Ingredients:

12 oz bag Trader Joe's Fresh Cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice

Procedure:

1) In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in the orange juice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

2) Stir in the cranberries and simmer until the cranberries start to pop (about 10 minutes).

3) Remove from heat and place sauce in a bowl. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.

Anyways, nothing really new here except for the green bean casserole. This recipe for green bean casserole was first served to me by my sister-in-law, Sarah Gentile, during Christmas last year. After begging her and my brother-in-law, Steven, for almost a year, I finally got the recipe. I loved it then and I love it now. The fried onion bits are particularly delicious, although I've realized that I definitely need to work on my frying technique. For one thing, I used olive oil which is nowhere near the ideal oil but it was all I had. For another, I didn't have a frying thermometer which I think I'm coming to see is kind of important. There were a few under-fried and a few over-fried bits, but all in all it was really good. It was definitely the best fresh out of the oven and it made A LOT (so much so we eventually ended up throwing some of it away).
The cranberry sauce is definitely nothing new, but I included it as it is slightly different proportions than I listed in my blog last year and I liked it cooked in the orange juice. I cooked it slightly longer than the 10 minutes indicated here.