Green Bean Casserole by Timothy Farrelly

Tim's Green Bean Casserole (taken in class, Thursday, June 15th!). Great job Tim!

It’s a chilly Thanksgiving evening on Vinalhaven, Maine, and my family and I are around the dining room table. My mom and others have just finished cooking dinner, and Green Bean Casserole will be served. Of course the other common Thanksgiving foods will be served as well: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and more, but the Green Bean Casserole is my chief focus. Baked Green Bean Casserole with French cut green beans and French’s Fried Onions is ready when the creamy mushroom sauce bubbles.

I’m not sure how I came to like this dish so much, nor can I remember the first time I had it. There was probably a time, when I was younger, that I thought it was gross by the mixture of the green and brown colors. Now I know having bright green in a dish is a good thing because it means it is healthy and fresh.

However I do remember the first time I helped make it. My mom and I were in our kitchen and she walked me through the steps as I did them. “Don’t use that many onions!” she instructed. Through my mom’s guidance, I realized cooking meals like Green Bean Casserole is not too hard.

Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 (14 oz) bag of French cut green beans
• 1 (10.5 oz) can of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup
• ⅓ cup of milk
• 1 dash of black pepper
• 1 (16 oz) can of French’s Fried Onions

How to make it

1. Place the frozen beans into a bowl to thaw.
2. Combine the cream of mushroom soup, milk, black pepper, and half of the French’s fried onions into a separate bowl; mix with the green beans when they’re thawed.
3. Spray 9x9-in. baking dish with cooking spray and fill with green bean mixture.
4. Top with remaining French’s onions and bake in oven at 350℉ for 30 minutes. Serve when onions are brown and sauce is bubbling.

Business Writing: Ann Taylor Pittman's "Mississippi Chinese Lady Goes Home to Korea"

In Friday's class, we handed out copies of Ann Taylor Pittman's 2013 James Beard Award-Winning article, "Mississippi Chinese Lady Goes Home to Korea."  One of the topics we discussed was how recipes tell stories--some, more than others. When authors write recipes, a magical process occurs in which they become part of the recipe's story and the recipe itself.

As we will look at the article more closely, here are some of the questions I want us to discuss:

1) What is Pittman's relationship to the South? Where did she grow up?

2) What does she mean when she defines herself as a "southerner?"

3) What does Pittman mean when she says, "I love the South, long for Mississippi, feel the South ever-present in my blood and soul?"

4) How do the places we grow up influence our relationship to food?

5) Compared to the South, how is Seoul characterized?

6) Why does Pittman feel like an outsider and an insider in Korea?

Homework for tonight:

Create a story for the recipe you have chosen as your summative assessment. If it was given to you by a family member, think about the family story your recipe tells.  If it's one you got online, think about how the recipe ties into the food your family makes. 

For example, my mother always made Louisiana recipes that were amazing--red beans and rice, blackened fish--but she wasn't much of a baker. If I were to craft a recipe for homemade cupcakes, I wouldn't be able to use her as an example, but I could use what she was really good at making: "a talented chef, Rebecca Brigman had a knack for spicy, Cajun cooking, but never baked from scratch. The only cakes she ever made came out of a box."

Do you see how I don't have a family story about baking, but I do have a story? Take a shot at it! I can't wait to see what you bring in tomorrow!

-Dr. B.