Dive into the 1950s with this traditional Broccoli and Cheddar Casserole. Basic, easy comfort food that’s great for chilly fall evenings. A dish for the whole family to enjoy as a side or even a main course. Eat your greens!
Who’s ready for some real cosy food? Well, I am 100%. Our weather has turned cold in a hurry this year. This place has a way of flicking a switch from flesh melting Indian summer to just bone chilling cold. Today we are at the bone chilling end of the spectrum.
Perfect comfort food weather.
What better way to stay cosy than with a casserole. Much like my Creamy Broccoli & Penna Pasta dish, this one’s a keeper.
So let’s take a look at this super easy Broccoli and Cheddar Casserole. Easy, delicious and comforting. Great as a side or even a main course.
Okay, let’s get cooking
First preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Have ready an 8 inch deep sided casserole dish. This can be square, round or oval. The shape is irrelevant. Just make sure it has deep sides.
Put the broccoli in a large colander and pour over boiling water and then cold water. This is called blanching, and it helps preserve the bright colour of the vegetable. Then put the broccoli in the casserole dish.
Making The Sauce
Next, we get going on the sauce. Have you ever made a Roux Sauce? Well, it’s the most easy and basic way of starting so many sauces. It the process of heating butter, adding flour and making a paste. You cook this for a few minutes and then gradually start adding milk to create and thick and creamy sauce. In this case we add our salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Then we remove it from the heat and add most of the cheese. Stir until you have a velvety consistency. A basic cheese sauce. Yum!
Pour the sauce over the broccoli and give it a toss it you need to to got it all coated.
Top the casserole with the extra grated and crushed up bread sticks. I used those long Italian style bread sticks, Grissini. We can buy them in our local supermarkets for really cheap. But if you can’t your hands on them at budget friendly prices, use bread crumbs. The top won’t be as crisp, but will still be delicious.
Bake this casserole in a preheated 375 degree F oven for about 30 minutes or until it comes out golden and bubbly.
It’s best to let it sit for about 15 minutes before cutting into it to serve. This will allow it to set a bit better as well as allow the sauce to thicken up a little.
A great winter comfort food.
My kids loved this recipe. I’ve only made it a couple of times and was surprised how much they enjoyed it. Admittedly, at first they thought it had pasta and were taking huge helpings. Until I told them it was just broccoli. I noticed the instant scraping of the plates back into the casserole dish. But then they tried it and thought it was pretty tasty. I agree, tasty!
Yes, you can Make it ahead of time
Yes, like I said earlier this can be a huge dinner time time saver. Make it earlier on, pop it in the fridge and bake when you are ready to eat. Remember, if baking a casserole from the fridge, you will have to increase the baking time. Just bake it for about 10 extra minutes and that should be enough.
Use Whatever Type of Cheese You Prefer
And yes, you can change the cheese in this recipe. Remember, recipes are usually just mere guidelines. Use your own judgement and intuition in the kitchen and don’t be afraid. Quite often your own creations will be far better! Yes!
I used mature cheddar in this recipe because it was what I had in the fridge. It was a delicious sauce. But you could easily use a cheese like Gouda or even mix Gouda with parmesan. I probably wouldn’t recommend mozzarella as it’s a bit stringy as well the flavour is just a bit too mild. So, if you don’t have Cheddar just use another similar type cheese. Surprise yourself.
Enjoy the comfort food of the cold season. Before we know it, we’ll all be firing up the barbecue again. Yes, it does come around that quick.
For now, I’m looking forward to my cosy Saturday afternoon with Netflix by the fire, maybe a little baking and a comforting dinner later on.
Happy cooking friends.
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Get the recipe!
Broccoli & Cheddar Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 large head of broccoli
- 2 Cups milk
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 Cups Cheddar cheese grated and divided
- 1 Teaspoon sea salt
- 1 Teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons garlic powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon onion powder
- Bread sticks approximately 10 – 12, crushed
Instructions
- Have ready a deep sided 8 inch casserole dish. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Put the broccoli in a large colander. Pour over boiling water and then cold water. Shake off excess water and put the broccoli in the casserole dish.
- In a medium saucepan set over medium to high heat, melt butter until sizzling. Whisk in flour until you have a paste. Gradually start whisking in your milk. Continue doing this until you have added all the milk and you have a slightly thickened sauce. Add the salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Stir really well. Reduce heat to low and add most of the cheese, reserving about 1/2 cup for the top. Stir really well until all the cheese has melted into the sauce. Remove from heat.
- Pour the sauce over the broccoli and toss to coat all broccoli. Top with extra cheese and smashed up bread sticks. Bake for around 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Remove from oven and let sit 15 minutes before serving.
*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
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