00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Green Bean Mac and Cheese.
00:08That's right, we are mashing up a green bean casserole with our classic All-American Mac
00:13and Cheese recipe.
00:15And the results were, very predictably, absolutely delicious.
00:19And yes, this is exactly how you get your kids to like green beans, no matter how old
00:24they are.
00:25And to get started, we're generously going to salt some water, which will bring to a
00:29boil over high heat.
00:31And because we're smart and efficient, we will be using this water to blanch our green
00:35beans and cook our pasta in.
00:37So what we'll do once our water is boiling, is transfer in one pound of trimmed green
00:42beans, which is actually how mine came.
00:44And it seems like the trimmed option is fairly readily available at many markets.
00:50But if not, just go ahead and simply trim off the ends.
00:53But either way, what we'll want to do is blanch these for about four minutes.
00:57Since we're trying to end up with something halfway between raw and fully cooked and soft.
01:02And obviously, this will depend on how thick your beans are, and you may have to adjust
01:06the time if your beans have a different girth.
01:09But for this size, four minutes was perfect.
01:12And obviously, you can grab one and check, before we fish them out into a bowl, at which
01:16point we'll simply let these sit until they're cool enough to handle.
01:20And I didn't have to, but if you think you overcooked them a little bit, you can always
01:23run them under cold water to stop the cooking.
01:26But either way, like I said, once those are cool enough to handle, we'll go ahead and
01:30slice them up, which I'm going to do in about one inch pieces.
01:33Alright, if you're going for a Michelin star, have your prep cook line these up and do just
01:37a few at a time.
01:39And cut them the exact same length as your cooked pasta.
01:42But for us common folk, this is fine.
01:45And once our beans are set, we'll go back to our still boiling water, and we will dump
01:49in one pound of elbow macaroni.
01:51And I swear I do this every time.
01:54I grab the spider I used to remove the beans, to stir the pasta, which is the exact same
01:58size as the wires on this strainer, which means a few pieces always get stuck.
02:03And then I have to do this, which is no big deal, but it is slightly annoying.
02:09And one of these days, I'm just going to start with a wooden spoon, which is what I use to
02:12stir this for the rest of the process.
02:15And what we'll do is cook this one minute less than the package directions, before we
02:19pull it off and let it drain very well.
02:22And besides the beans and our macaroni, the only other thing we need to prep is our cheesy
02:26béchamel sauce, which if you can, I'd try to make while your pasta is cooking.
02:32Which we'll start by stirring some flour into some butter that we melted over medium heat.
02:37And once we have all that whisked together nice and smooth, we'll let it cook for about
02:40two minutes, just to take that raw pasty edge off the flour.
02:44And one way to tell your flour's cooked long enough, is that it actually starts to smell
02:48like cooked pie crust.
02:50So while we don't want it to brown too much, we definitely want to let that flour toast
02:53a little bit.
02:55And once that happens, we will dump in our milk all at once, which is very cold, since
03:00as we all probably know, hot roux, cold milk, no lumps.
03:04So just dump it in and give it a whisk.
03:07And then all we need to do here is cook this, stirring occasionally, until it comes up to
03:11a simmer, at which point it's going to thicken beautifully.
03:15And while we're waiting, in between stirs, we can go ahead and season this up, which
03:19we'll do with some salt, plus more than a few shakes of cayenne.
03:23We'll also do a little bit of dried thyme, as well as some white pepper, which could
03:28be freshly ground black pepper.
03:30And then I think a little touch of nutmeg's always nice in this, which as usual I will
03:34freshly grate, since it's so much better.
03:38And after a few seconds of nutmeg, we can add a little touch of Dijon, and then we'll
03:42finish up with a small splash of Worcestershire sauce.
03:46And we will stir that together, and like I said, wait for this to thicken, which like
03:50all flour-based sauces, will happen as soon as this simmers.
03:54And by the way, you can just leave everything on medium.
03:57But if you do want things to happen quicker, you can increase your heat to medium-high.
04:01Just make sure you're stirring very often.
04:04And once our béchamel does start to simmer and thicken up, we will turn off the heat,
04:08and we will transfer in one pound of freshly grated cheddar cheese.
04:13And I'm using a little bit of white and orange, but both I think should be extra sharp, or
04:17at least that's my preference.
04:20And I know that does look like too much, but I don't think it is, and there should be plenty
04:24of residual heat in that sauce to melt all that cheese nicely.
04:28So just keep stirring with your whisk until it all melts in, at which point we can give
04:33it a taste, and adjust with more salt or pepper if we want.
04:37And then once we're happy with it, we can move into final assembly, which means we'll
04:42add our green beans to our cooked pasta, and then pour over and stir in our freshly
04:47made cheese sauce.
04:49And the funny thing that happens to people when they make a baked mac and cheese, is
04:53at this point they always think they have way too much sauce.
04:56And then they bake it, and they think, huh, I could have used some more sauce.
05:00So I know it looks like a lot at this point, but don't worry, it's all going to get baked in.
05:05And once we do have that evenly mixed, we'll transfer it into a casserole dish.
05:09And if you're using a 9 by 12 inch like I am, it's going to come pretty much all the
05:13way to the top.
05:15So once we have that in there, and evenly distributed, I think we should transfer it
05:18onto a sheet pan, since we might, and probably will, get some drippage.
05:23So that's what I did, before moving on to the final, and maybe most important step,
05:28and that would be covering the top with some french fried onions, that mysteriously appear
05:32at this store every holiday season.
05:35And while I usually use breadcrumbs, or sometimes crushed up potato chips for my mac and cheese,
05:40I figured since fried onions are so perfect on green bean casserole, they will probably
05:44be perfect here, and they were.
05:47But anyway, you decide.
05:49I mean, you are after all the jack of your crispy topping plan of attack.
05:54And that's it, our green bean mac and cheese is now ready to transfer into the center of
05:58a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until everything's nice and hot, and the top
06:04is browned, and it hopefully looks like this.
06:07Oh yeah, now that is beautiful, and I would love to dig right in, but we really should
06:12let this sit and set up for about 5-10 minutes before we serve, which I absolutely did not
06:17do.
06:18Ok, it only lasted about 2 minutes, before I grabbed a spoon, and went in for a bite.
06:23And that my friends, was everything I was hoping it would be, and more.
06:27Right, even without the beans this is going to be great, but they really did add an extra
06:32very delicious element, thanks to their very pleasant texture, and beautiful appearance,
06:37and most importantly, that little bit of subtle bitterness they have.
06:41Since like I've been saying for many, many years, a little touch of bitter makes everything
06:45a little bit better, since it basically amplifies the other flavors, and just makes everything
06:50a little more tasty.
06:51And while this would have been fantastic with any kind of crunchy topping, those little
06:55brown bits of french fried onions were absolutely perfect.
06:59And after eating straight out of the dish like a savage, I went ahead and plated some
07:03up so I could make sure a fork would work as well.
07:06But no matter what you eat this with, or whether you serve it as a side, or a main course,
07:11it combines two of the most popular, and most delicious casseroles of all time.
07:15Which is why I really do hope you give this a try soon.
07:19So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
07:23more info as usual.
07:26And as always, enjoy!
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