Green Bean Casserole in cast iron skillet
Mom food from the 1950s. I followed the green bean casserole recipe from the French’s coupon insert but it was pretty bland so I doctored it up a bit with some ingredients that were probably present in the original. Serves 8.
Ingredients:
1 can cream of mushroom soup (Campbell’s preferred)
¼ c milk
¼ tsp black pepper
3/4 t salt*
1/4 t MSG*
1 lb frozen green beans, French cut, cooked according to package directions and drained
1 can (2.8 oz) French’s French Fried Onions=
Method: Dump the soup into a cast iron skillet and add milk, pepper, salt and MSG; stir until blended. Mix in green beans and all but ¼ c of the fried onions. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes then sprinkle remaining onions on the top and heat 5 minutes more. Serve from the skillet, on a trivet if you bring to table.
*If you don’t want to use MSG, you can get the umami effect by adding 1/4 c parmesan cheese (preferably from the green Kraft shaker, like mom used) and 1 T soy sauce; if you do this omit the salt and MSG.
I generally do my own hacks of the prepared ingredients in a recipe, but French’s Fried Onions are hard to duplicate. Somehow they manage to coat each tidbit without making it heavy and greasy. These are often on sale around holidays and they last just about forever (in spite of what the “use by date” on the can might say) so stock up.
