I grew up on green bean hot dish at Thanksgiving: canned green beans, canned mushroom soup, canned onions. I haven’t used canned soup for years – I needed to find a non-dairy way to make traditional foods – but, I never thought I would replace the canned crispy onions. They just seemed like the one thing that I needed to buy.
Today my oldest daughter was having a feast at school and requested my “infamous” tuna hot dish. I don’t like running to the store for one item; but I didn’t have any canned onions (I use them instead of potato chips, recipe below). I had onions. I had flour, oil and salt. Could I make the onions from scratch? It was so easy I can’t believe I didn’t try it before.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Crispy onions (for topping hot dishes/casseroles)
Makes enough for one dish
Ingredients:
1 large onion – try yellow, white or red (or all three!)
About ¾ C. flour
½ tsp. salt (more or less to taste)
3 T. olive oil
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Peel onion and cut in half. Slice each half very thinly and place into bowl, breaking up onion into individual pieces. Put flour and salt into bowl and toss to coat. Add more flour as needed to thoroughly coat onions. Place into glass baking dish and drizzle evenly with oil. Toss gently to coat. Bake for 15 minutes. Gently stir. Bake for 10 – 20 more minutes, until onions are golden brown. Cool thoroughly and store in tightly closed container for up to one week.
Tuna hot dish
Ingredients:
1 serving crispy onions (recipe above)
4 celery stalks
½ C. fresh parsley
4 T. Earth Balance margarine or butter
1 T. flour
1 C. milk (cow, soy, rice, hemp)
½ C. water
2 6 oz. cans tuna in water (retain juice)
¾ lb. vegetable noodles (any shape), cooked al dente
Salt and pepper to taste
1 vegetable bullion cube (Rapunzel brand)
Directions:
In large pot, melt margarine or butter. Add celery, salt and pepper. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add parsley, cooking until well cooked. Add flour, stirring until well mixed. Cook until mixture bubbles. Slowly add milk, stirring constantly. Add juice from tuna, ½ C. water and bullion. Add tuna and mix thoroughly, breaking up large chunks. Add noodles, mixing gently. Place all into baking dish, cover with onions, bake in 350 oven for 15 minutes.
Green bean hot dish
Ingredients:
1 1b. frozen haricot vert (French cut green beans), thawed
1 recipe crispy onions
2 C. fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
¼ C. onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
½ t. yellow mustard powder
½ t. paprika
¼ t. dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
3 T. olive oil
1 T. flour
1 C. milk (cow, soy, rice, hemp)
Directions:
Cook celery, onion, mushrooms, seasonings in the oil until tender. Add flour, stirring constantly. Cook until bubbly; slowly add milk, stirring constantly. Simmer for about 10 minutes; remove from flame; add green beans, mixing thoroughly. Place all in baking dish; top with onions and bake in 350 oven for 20 – 30 minutes, or until green beans are cooked.
