Day Twenty-Five

She Said:

We made a side dish with our dinner with friends on Friday and it counts toward our own Julie/Julia Project. This is from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Scalloped Green Beans

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1½ cups milke
1½ cups grated sharp Cheddar
2 pounds green or wax beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces (7 to 8 cups)
1 onion, halved and sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup dried bread crumbs, or ½ cup fresh (we used fresh)

1. Preheat the oven to 350℉. Grease a 9- by 13-inch baking dish with butter.

2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon to make a smooth paste. Stir in the milk and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and stir in the cheese. Cook, stirring constantly, until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth, about 3 minutes.

3. Layer the beans and onion in the baking dish, generously sprinkling with the salt and pepper as you layer. Cover with the cheese sauce. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the dish.

4. Bake for 60 minutes.

5. Serve hot.

This was a pretty easy and tasty side dish. However, given the choice, I think I'd just go with plain old oven-roasted green beans. You just can't go wrong with that.

Oh, and in the course of looking through the cookbook, we discovered that we had inadvertently made another recipe back on Day Nineteen. It is this:

Herbed New Potatoes

2 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (dill, oregano, chives, savory, chervil, tarragon, parsley, marjoram, alone or in any combination)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring about an inch of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the potatoes in a steaming basket, cover, and steam for 25 to 35 minutes, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife.

2. Transfer the potatoes to a warmed serving bowl. Pour in the butter, and sprinkle the herbs and salt and pepper over the butter. Toss gently. Serve immediately.

The only difference between this recipe and what we did on Day Nineteen was that we didn't melt the butter. Pretty good for making it up on the fly! Anyway, this way of making new potatoes is divine. I heartily recommend it!

Day 25:365/Recipes 17 and 18:175