Green Beans with Miso Butter Braised Onions

• servings: 8 servings
• active time: 15 minutes
• total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 to 1½ lb (450g-675g) green beans, washed and trimmed

2 lb small onions, or 9-10 small onions weighing about 100g each

7 tbsp (98g) unsalted butter, melted

7 tbsp (105g) white or yellow miso paste – note 1

3 cups warm water

2 tbsp cornstarch, whisked with 2 tbsp cold water

Salt for blanching green beans

Directions

Preheat oven to 500°F (260°C).

In a 9” x 13” x 2” rectangular baking dish, add miso paste and melted butter. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in the warm water (you can also add a little of the warm water while whisking the butter and miso paste to help loosen).

Halve onions lengthwise. Trim a little off the tops and bottoms but leaving enough at the base to ensure they remain intact through cooking. Remove all layers with papery skins.

Arrange halved onions in baking dish, cut-side down in a single layer. Cover tightly with foil and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil. Carefully turn over onions so they are cut-side up. Baste onions with liquid in the dish. Return to oven and bake uncovered a further 30-40 minutes or until onions are tender and browned at the edges, basting every 10 minutes or so to ensure edges don’t burn.

About 10 minutes before onions are ready, blanch green beans. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt like you would for pasta (i.e. briny like ocean water). Prepare an ice bath on the side. Blanch green beans around 2-4 minutes or whenever they are crisp-tender and still bright green. Don’t overcook as they’ll be returned to the oven to reheat. Drain in colander and immediately transfer into ice bath to stop the cooking. Drain well in a colander and place in an oven-safe shallow serving dish. Toss with a little oil.

When onions are ready, remove from the oven and turn heat down to 350f. Place the green beans in the oven to heat back through. Keep an eye on them to prevent over cooking. Alternatively, you can microwave or sauté the green beans on a skillet to reheat them.

At this point, decide whether the onion sauce consistency needs to be adjusted. For me, the sauce at this point is more of a watery liquid and I definitely prefer a slightly thicker sauce – something like a thin gravy. To thicken the sauce, use slotted spoon to carefully transfer onions into a small dish, being careful not to break them. Pour braising liquid into a small pot and bring to a gentle simmer. Whisk in a little of the cornstarch slurry (not all at once) and cook until sauce has thickened as desired. Allow it to cook on low heat to thicken. Add more cornstarch slurry and cook further only if needed.

To serve, remove green beans from the oven, arrange braised onions on top and pour sauce over everything. Enjoy!

Nutrition

• Calories: 267
• Total Fat: 15
• Saturated Fat: 9
• Cholesterol: 36
• Sodium: 761
• Total Carbohydrate: 30
• Dietary Fiber: 7
• Total Sugars: 12
• Protein: 7