Green Beans with Fried Onions

Picture
see turkey roulade photo for our dish
Ingredients
2 cups green beans, washed, trimmed
1/2 cup onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup AP flour
salt and black pepper to taste
2 cups corn oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup white mushrooms, sliced


Directions
  1. Cook the green beans in boiling salted water until tender (about 3 minutes)r. Shock the green beans in an ice-water bath and reserve.
  2. Soak the onions in ice water for 1 hour.
  3. Heat the oil in a deep-fryer to 375F.
  4. Drain and dry the onion thoroughly.
  5. Combine the flour and salt and pepper. Toss the onion in the seasoned flour until coated. Shake off the excess flour.
  6. Deep-fry the onion until golden brown and crisp.
  7. Melt the butter and saute the mushrooms over medium-high heat until tender.
  8. Add the reserved beans to the mushrooms and heat thoroughly.
  9. Top beans with the fried onions just before serving.

Critique
Chef: onions very tasty, beans could have been cooked more, but it's good to have some crispness to them, shouldn't be overdone, mushrooms had good flavor.

Chef Tip: cook the vegetables until they are 2/3 done, then finish last 1/3 before service. Blanch for about 2 minutes, then saute to finish and go for caramelization and have some dark marks on the beans.

Personal/Team: It seemed like we had more onions that we needed for the dish, they can be a garnish. We were worried about overcooking the beans and actually undercooked them, it would have been better to originally blanch longer and snap a sample bean before shocking to make sure they have the right consistency. Our onion slices were about 1/4 inch thick and that seemed to be the right size to get a bite of onion instead of just shreds of fried flour.

Lessons Learned: soaking the onions before frying will take out some of the potency. You can also soak in buttermilk before frying and use a seasoned flour, this will enhance the flavor more.