This isn't the typical US green bean casserole. Gram's version is juicy, brothy and savory. She refused to use any other brand of frenched green beans than Del Monte French Style Green Beans with Onions, Red Peppers and Garlic. She only made this on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Some holidays, she'd make double her normal batch, which needed 4 cans of frenched beans and double the other ingredients. Mostly, she made the small batch with 2 cans of frenched beans (as listed below in the Ingredients).

Ingredients:

2 cans Del Monte 14oz "French Style Green Beans with Onions, Red Peppers and Garlic"

1 bag Fresh Pearl or Boiler Onions (not the pickled onions)

1 undiluted can Campbell's French Onion Soup or Golden Onion Soup

1 - 2 cubes Beef Bouillon or Chicken Bouillon, dissolved

1/2 stick Dairy Butter (not margarine)

Salt and Pepper to tastes

2-4 tablespoons Evaporated Milk + Liquid from cans of frenched beans

**Optional: crushed croutons or bread crumbs

Drain the cans of frenched green beans, save the liquid. Set oven to 350°f. Hot-peel and wash the fresh pearl or boiler onions to skin them. Butter a medium sized baking pan or casserole dish. Can use bacon grease instead of butter.

(Instructions for hot-peeling fresh boiler or fresh pearl onions is at the end. Can also use a bag of Bird's Eye frozen pearl onions, which are peeled and ready to use).

Cover the entire baking pan bottom with peeled fresh pearl or boiler onions, 1 layer deep

Mix the onion soup with the evaporated milk, and bouillon cube(s) or a teaspoon beef soup base, or beef broth. Add the reserved liquid from the frenched green beans, make sure the bouillon cubes are fully dissolved. Mix well, set aside.

If using a packet of dry onion soup mix instead of a can of french onion soup, then dissolve that in the above liquids mixture.

Evenly sprinkle the drained frenched green beans over the fresh pearl onions. Add salt and black pepper to taste, then pour the onion soup mixture over the beans. Place pats of butter all over the top. Bake until bubbly, try not to brown it.

An alternate method was to sprinkle the top with crushed croutons, or fresh bread crumbs as a topping. Then put on pats of butter over the crumbs, then bake.

Can be baked at a lower temperature (250°f to 300°f), with foil laid loosely on top, for a longer period of time. Best results were always when it was cooked at a lower temp. Please make sure to use frenched green beans that have the onions, red peppers and garlic. Any other type will taste bland.

Serve with Holiday meals or other special occasions.

This absolutely is not that green bean casserole made with fried onions and cream of mushroom soup. This tastes so much better, in my opinion. I think you'll like it too.

To hot-peel (or "parboil") fresh boiler or fresh pearl onions:

Place fresh boiler or fresh pearl onions in a deep-fryer basket. This helps prevent accidental burns when putting the onions in boiling water.

Have a pot of water coming to a boil.

Once it's a rolling boil, slowly lower the basket of onions into the boiling water, avoid splashing. Boil the onions only a minute. For small pearl onions, a few seconds is sufficient to loosen the outer skin. Larger onions will need some extra time, but don't boil them a long time. If parboiling larger to medium sized boiler onions, they'll need about a minute boiling or less. Once you've done it a time or two, you'll instinctively know how long to boil the size of onions you're using.

Take up fryer basket of onions from the boiling water and carefully plunge them in icewater. Leave the onions there until the they're cool enough to handle.

Now, grab the onion and pinch the root end gently. The onion will squirt out the opposite end from where you're pinching it, leaving the skin behind. Discard that tough skin.

That's all there is to it. Easy.