New takes on old holiday sides

They’ll appear on countless Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner tables throughout America, as they have for decades: green bean casserole made with canned green beans, canned cream of mushroom soup, and canned fried onions; and candied yams or sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows. Neither were part of my family’s holiday traditions, though. As regards the green bean casserole, it wasn’t because we eschewed store-bought canned food. But when green beans were in season at our organic produce farm, we ate them every night, always slow-cooked with bacon and onions. We almost never had them, fresh or canned, the rest of the year – undoubtedly because by summer’s end, we’d all gotten tired of them; I know I did.

Cooking on my own, I fixed green beans in many ways – stir-fried, sautéed, steamed – but never using that bacon-and-onion preparation.

For the last few years, however, I’ve prepared them occasionally, rediscovering how delicious they are (especially when not eaten daily).

As for the candied, marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes, most of us thought they were too sweet. The exception was my dad. For years, my grandmother would make an entire casserole (sans marshmallows) for Thanksgiving, because he loved them. And every year, it went around the table and he was the only taker. After he passed away, they disappeared entirely.

Here are delectable twists on those old favorites. The green bean casserole is something old made new, based on that classic preparation with bacon and onions. And the touch of sweetness in the sweet potatoes is complemented by a touch of spicy heat.

Contact Julianne Glatz at [email protected].