Yum, that smells good!

Alternately Titled: Green Bean Casserole, Practice Round

I knew I needed to make a practice green bean casserole before Turkey day, and last night was the night. I ended up combining two recipes - I used the shallot part of the recipe from Alex's Day Off, and the bean part from Alton Brown. (Please check my previous post for links to the food network where you can click to see both recipes.)

The recipe called for 4 cups of vegetable oil in which to fry the shallots. I used onions, and I used lard. I didn't measure four cups. I didn't really want to use that much. My lard is rendered, but not too fancy, and it's not particularly expensive, but four cups seemed like a lot.

I think this was a good two or three cups, though.

I started slicing the onion, then turned the burner on to melt the lard.
While the lard was melting, my husband called from the other room, "Yum, that smells good, honey." I admit that when he said that I was defrosting a container of chicken broth in the microwave, and I was slicing onions. But there is no question that the smell he was referring to was the melting lard. And I told him so. And apparently he is not at all opposed to using lard for cooking (although he did express some reservations about switching to whole milk, because he really doesn't want my ideas about food to lead to major weight gain). I hope the other people that are coming to my house for Thanksgiving feel the same way about lard. (I will probably have low-fat milk options available in my house for them.)
I was supposed to have the fat at 350, and I did take the temperature when this pan was around 300 degrees, and then I threw an onion ring in. It cooked like I expected it to, so I stopped worrying about the temperature.

I asked my husband to stay in the kitchen with me, since I've never (1) cooked a big pan of lard before or (2) really fried anything in oil like this. He used the opportunity to take a picture of me hard at work. I even smiled.
Some of the onions got a little too well-done, even though I only let them sit in the oil for a few seconds before starting to scoop them out. I was using a slotted serving spoon, which was not ideal (it was too small) but it was the best utensil I had. I was afraid my other (plastic) utensils would melt.
The lard stayed relatively clean, although a lot of flour collected in the bottom of the pan, and started to burn. My house got very smoky and I had to open a window in spite of the fact that the temperature was in the 30s. I have no doubt that the same things would have happened if I'd been cooking in oil instead of lard. (Feel free to leave me a comment explaining why I'm wrong, though!)

When the onions were done, I started the green bean part. First, I sauteed mushrooms in butter (I chopped them before I started chopping onions. These are regular grocery store white button mushrooms. The only mushrooms I saw at the farmers' market last weekend were oyster mushrooms, and we're not huge fans of them.)
I added flour to make a roux. I made sure to cook it long enough to get the flour taste out.
Then I added one cup of homemade chicken broth, and let the liquid simmer for a minute or two.
At some point I threw in a clove of garlic. The recipe called for two, but this was a pretty big clove.
Then I added a cup of heavy cream. This recipe called for half-and-half, the other one (which I'd been intending to make) called for cream (I believe). I did not measure, and maybe I should have because my sauce never thickened in spite of cooking it for longer than the recipe said.
Finally I added the (store-bought, frozen) green beans, and approximately one quarter of the onions. The recipe said to cook all of this in a dutch oven, then throw it in the oven. I don't have a dutch oven. I do have a cast iron skillet that would have worked, since I did not need a lid, but did not think of that until just this minute. I transferred the beans to a casserole dish, topped them with the rest of the fried onions, and threw the dish in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.
I could have cooked it longer.

The casserole was pretty good. It wasn't great, but it was good. When I make it next week, I might try to add more flour or less cream. I will probably cook it in my cast iron pan. I think I should make more onions, too.

We enjoyed the casserole, watched our Thursday night shows (Big Bang Theory and The Office) and I snuggled with the dog, who enjoyed showing off his new haircut.
I got a Snuggie from my sweetie for Christmas last year. I love it. I don't care if people make fun of Snuggies on Facebook and YouTube. I'm keeping mine, and I don't care who sees me in it.