What’s more Jewish than schmaltz, right?!? This rendered fat from a chicken is traditionally used in place of butter and adds tons of flavor to fried dishes, matzo balls and pretty much anything you can think of that contains oil.
The crunchy green beans topped with schmaltz fried shallots, pumpkin seeds and lemon zest is a play on a traditional green bean casserole with French fried onions. If you cannot get your hands on chicken schmaltz, you can use vegetable oil in its place to fry up the shallots, but you won’t get that salty chicken flavor — and trust me, you want that if you can get it!
Green beans with schmaltz-fried shallots
Ingredients
- 2 cups sliced shallots (around 12 peeled shallots)
- 1/4 cup chicken schmaltz
- 4-5 cups green beans
- 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
- 1 tsp lemon zest
Instructions
- Melt the chicken schmaltz in a large heavy-bottom pan over medium heat then add the sliced shallots and cook for 15 minutes, stirring often so the shallots don’t burn.
- While the shallots are cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat then add the green beans and cook for 4-5 minutes. Transfer the green beans to a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process and retain the green color of the beans.
- Dry the green beans and place on a serving tray. Pour the fried shallots over the top of the green beans then sprinkle with raw pumpkin seeds and lemon zest.
These green beans with schmaltz-fried shallots are part of our Modern Jewish Thanksgiving Menu