Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Comfort Food - Cheap and Very Cheerful - Vegetable Bake

I am making some food for a friends friend, who is stuck in hospital, for quite some time.
Everytime I make a dish, I make enough to freeze some. This is a good idea anyway.
Being able to bring some food out of the freezer,  virtually instant food.
You can sit and have a glass of wine while it bubbles away in the oven.
As I am Taking on Jamie, I thought I would time this. Took a little longer than 15 minutes. You could eat it immediately but I think it needs to be baked.
But you could make it earlier in the day and then just stick it in the oven for about 25 minutes or until it is golden and bubbly. All ready for the oven or freezer

This is a Vego Dish, you could make it Gluten Free, if you use cornflour instead of wheat flour.
Lovely cheesey sauce smothering broccoli, topped with mashed potatoes

I followed Jamies advice and got my pans hot and ready to multi task

This will feed 4 people

3 large potatoes
75 mls hot milk
30 gms cold butter

2 heads broccoli

100 gms butter
1 onion chopped
1 carrot grated
1/2 cup flour
 Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
About 800 mls Whole milk 
1 Bayleaf

100 gms grated tasty cheese

Get ready
Put milk and Bayleaf into microwave and heat for about 2-3 minutes

Put a pot of salted water to boil for broccoli
Have another pot of salted cold water for the potatoes
Melt butter over medium heat in another pot for sauce

Break broccoli into florets
Throw into boiling water and blanch for about 3 minutes

Drain and run under cold water to keep the lovely green colour

Peel potatoes and cut into smallish cubes about 1/2 inch for faster cooking
Throw into cold water and bring rapidly to the boil
cook till tender about 10 minutes

Meanwhile chop onion and grate carrot and add to melted butter
Season with S & P
Cook down about 5 minutes till tender
Add flour, stir well
Cook another 4 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste
Add hot milk all at once and stir to ensure there are no lumps
 Cook for about another 4 minutes adding more milk if it is too thick, don't want it gluggy

Add broccoli  to sauce and transfer to serving dish
Now, your potatoes will be cooked
Drain well and mash
I used a potato ricer, does such a good job,
Takes a little longer but it's worth it
I bought mine for about $9, many years ago from The Warehouse. Its been a great asset
You don't have to spend a fortune

Add hot milk to potatoes
Stir, beat in cold butter
Check seasoning and adjust if necessary
Spread the potatoes over the Saucy Vege
All ready to go
Cooked in  27 minutes
That's not too hard

Quite a lot of carnage though. No one talks about the washing up.
I've got a good dishwasher which did all of this for me










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