Green beans in a mustard caper vinaigrette. More

This recipe for Collard Green and White Bean Gratin comes from Frank Stitt, a chef who introduced Alabama to French and Italian flavors through his four Birmingham restaurants. This dish combines Southern collards and ham-hocks with Italian Parmigiano, cannellini beans, rosemary, and olive oil into a gratin that is the best of both worlds. More

Instead of cans, this recipe calls for fresh ingredients—green beans, mushrooms (both fresh white ones and dried wild mushrooms), shallots, and chicken stock. Sure, it requires a little more time than the gloopy, canned original but the butter-sautéed mushrooms, sweet fried shallots, and still-snappy green beans make it worth it. More

Note: You can use canned fried onions or shallots instead of making your own in step one and two. For better results, look for fried shallots in a Thai or Vietnamese market—but French's will do just fine if that's what... More

More

More

I wasn’t event thinking about the side dish. My mind was focused on that cranberry-chipotle sauce and the protein it was going to drip all over, when I casually tossed the idea to the fiancée that we should eat something... More