Broccoli Bake

Like many a veggie before me, the comfort food of my dreams revolves around a hearty cheese sauce. When I started SW I followed a recipe for a low-syn macaroni cheese dish which used pureed cauliflower as the basis of the cheese sauce. I made one successful attempt but never quite managed to get it right again. However, when looking for a warming treat on a recent rainy day, I began to experiment with the recipe again, looking at how I could adapt this idea into an SP day friendly version. I came up with this!

This does use up a whole HEA allowance of cheese, but it really is worth it. I've just made a single portion here - but you could easily double or multiply these measurements to make for more people. 

I would strongly advise baking in a deeper bowl rather than spreading out in a shallower flan dish type affair. Firstly, this means that the cheese on top is more concentrated and therefore more golden and gooey (lush!). Additionally, as it bakes, the additional moisture in the broccoli and the sauce drains to the bottom of the dish in a deep bowl like this. I then scoop off the good stuff and dispose of the water. If you do this in a shallower dish this is harder to separate so you end up with an overall thinner sauce. 

As with all recipes and meal plans on the blog I have highlighted the protein sources (P foods) in red, the speed (S) foods in green, healthy extra allowances in blue and syns, with syn values in brackets in orange. 

Broccoli Bake

Serves 1 - syn free if using HEA allowance on cheese (6 syns for cheese if not) 

1/2 a large cauliflower head

2 large florets of broccoli

2 tbsp quark 

40g Reduced Fat Cheddar, grated finely

1/4 tsp of english mustard

Ground black pepper

Pre-heat an oven to 180 degress fan / 200 degress / Gas Mark 4. 

Break the cauliflower and broccoli into small florets.

Using a steamer, put the cauliflower into one steamer basket and the broccoli into another and put on to steam for 10 mins. 

Check them at this point - you want the broccoli stems to still be very firm. If they are still like this but the frothier ends are softer then take these off the steamer and set to one side. 

The cauliflower needs to be softer in texture so may need another 5 - 10 minutes. You should be able to crush the stalks of the florets with a fork for them to be ready for the next step. 

Once the cauliflower is soft, drain carefully, tip onto some kitchen roll and pat off as much liquid as possible. 

Then tip it into a bowl and add the quark, black pepper and the quarter teaspoon of mustard (I know this is a slightly odd measure but it really just needs to be a taste of it - I just dip the teaspoon in and let it coat the tip of the spoon and stir it in!). 

Using a hand blender (or in a food processor or mouli) blend to a smooth paste. Add half the cheese to the mixture and mix well to ensure the cheese is melted into the sauce. 

Put the broccoli into a bowl and pour over the sauce and then add the remaining cheese to the top.

Bake for 20- 25 minutes, until the top is totally golden brown and bubbling.

As per my introduction, when you come to serve out, scoop the mixture from the top of the bowl and you should get a bit of separation of the broccoli and sauce and some liquid from the veg. I spoon out the creamy top and leave the liquid, but you could potentially stir in back in if you wish to have a much looser sauce (and you can sacrifice that lush cheesy topping!) 

Make sure you serve it with plenty of other speed veg - I went with baby spinach, basil leaves, vine tomatoes, strawberries and balsamic vinegar. It's old news but if you haven't tried strawberries with balsamic, it is a must!