January 18, 2008

BROCCOLI AND CHEESE IN CREAM SAUCE

Pooja from "Creative Pooja" blog has re-started her "Vegetable of the week" event, coming back to blogging after a long break. Since India's Republic Day is on the January 26th, she has chosen the theme of "Orange, White and Green", which are the colors of Indian flag, to cook and display. Green Broccoli and Orange Cheddar cheese in white cream sauce is my contribution to this event. Thanks Pooja!:)

Tri-color Cream cheese blocks are my last year's contribution to Republic day cook up.

Enjoy Indian Republic day on the 26th!
Republic day, a very proud day for all Indians, is grandly celebrated all over India every year on the 26th of January. Here is the history;
"26th January 1950, is one of the most important days in Indian history as it was on this day the constitution of India came into force and India became a truly sovereign state. The Indian people finally realized their dream and the dream of their leader Mahatma Gandhi and the numerous freedom fighters who fought for and sacrificed their lives for the Independence of their country. So the 26th of January was declared a national holiday and has been recognized and celebrated as the Republic Day of India, ever since", according to Taj online.
More info about Republic day of India is here at WIKI.

Broccoli and Cheddar cheese in cream sauce:
When I read the theme of three colors of this event, I immediately thought of this dish which has all three colors, my kids' favorite Broccoli dish I cook for them often, easy to make and a delicious side dish to serve with crispy vegetable patties or any meat dishes.I served this with Hamburger meal!

You need: 1 (10oz) bag of frozen Broccoli or about 3-4 cups,
1/2 Cup grated orange Cheddar cheese,
For Sauce:
2 tbsp butter,
2 tbsp Plain flour,
1 cup light or fat free heavy cream,
1/2 cup milk, 2% or fat free,
(or 1 1/2 cups of 2% milk will do too)
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese,
a pinch or more Nutmeg powder,
salt and pepper to taste.
To make it:
1. Thaw the Broccoli, cover the bowl and microwave fro 3-4 mins or just until they are tender but mushy.If using fresh Broccoli, wash, cut and add a cup of water in a bowl, cover and MW until soft to bite. Drain all the water and cool.
2. Heat a non-stick pan, add butter and melt. Sprinkle flour over it and stir for 1 minute until it is well mixed and cooks until raw taste of flour disappears. Don't let it brown.
3. Add the cream and milk, let it heat and bubble for 2 mins. Add salt, pepper and Nutmeg pd to taste. When it starts to thicken slightly, add Parmesan cheese and 1/2 of the Cheddar cheese ie 1/4 cup and all the Broccoli, mix well.
4. Take off the pan from heat. Sprinkle the rest of the Cheddar on top and cover with a lid. Sauce gets thicker as it cools.
5. Serve as soon as possible with a main dish while it's still warm. If the sauce thickens too much like a paste (It shouldn't be unless you cooked the sauce too long!), add more milk, reheat and mix.

Hamburger Helper Meal I served with Broccoli cheese:
This dish which includes Pasta and gravy mix comes in a pre-packaged box and cooked with any ground meat, it makes a delicious meal with Broccoli cheese as the side dish. When I am short of time to cook from scratch on some Sundays, I grab a pack of this Hamburger meal!:)



Enjoy!:))

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks good Asha -- my kids both love Hamburger Helper, oh, *help* me! ;)

FH said...

HH would be good meal to cook in the college dorms, I guess. Trisha has picked out a red Microwave to take to dorm room already and she is still in 11th grade! Hahaha!

Pooja said...

I like broccoli , and hubby loves cheese , so its good combo to try at our home :)).
This is a wonderful entry for the event Asha ! I am glad to recieve the First entry for the event from You dear. Thanks for your effort, I love the whole post, specilly the things your described for India.Three cheers for OUR India :) .

Siri said...

Lovely combo Ashaji.. Broccoli n cheese.. love both.. great entry..

Hope u are doing good.

take care n Chao for now

~ Siri

Suganya said...

Glad to see the comments enabled. Do what is right for you, Asha :)

FH said...

Pooja, Siri, Suganya, thanks girls. You will see what I have been doing in my next post at FH!:))

AnuSriram said...

It does make a great combination... Looks delicious tooo..

krystyna said...

Hi Asha,
just that moment you visited me I tried to finish my post. Thanks for your kind words
and thanks for this beautiful, healthy and easy to do recipes.
Wonderful for This Day!
I like broccoli and your recipe inspired me to do something different than I usually do.

FH said...

Thanks Anu and Krystyna. We love Broccoli, so I keep trying it out in different recipes. Enjoy!:)

krystyna said...

This delicious meal has orange, white and green in very subtle art combination.
Best to you, Asha!

Laavanya said...

Asha, good to see you. I love broccoli and that looks great. Nice entry there.

Susan from Food Blogga said...

If it weren't for pairing it with cheese, kids might never eat broccoli!

FH said...

Krystyna, Laavanya , Susan enjoy.

Susan, yes! Cheese and cream makes it go down easy for kids!:D

vimmi said...

Wow the broccoli dish looks great. Whats not to likr about cream and cheese. Thanks for enabling teh comments again. Your dishes are so amazing that without commenting it was not much fun.

Finla said...

Well we can comment again. Two days back i was here and i was busy writting comment and then suddenly remembered that it doesn't work ;-)
I always love brocoli and cheese.
And as always full of information.

FH said...

Vimmi, Happy cook, enjoy. Glad to see you my fave girls comments again too!:)

I became overwhelmed with all the "busy busy" blogging, had to go away for a while!:D

Mona said...

wow! Broccoli and Cheddar Cheese sound so yummy! :)

Happy Republic day to you Asha!

FH said...

Thanks Mona. I loved those Pink ladies!:))
You too enjoy there, it's more fun for you there in India than us.

Kribha said...

Oh Asha,
I'm so happy that the comment section has been enabled. Missed talking to you so much. Although it's just a few words....it meant so much. I do know that you don't like people getting sentimental with you. But I can't help it. Anyway, so happy to be in touch with you.
BTW,I started on the southbeach diet since new year. I hope you might have heard about that diet. I did cheat a few times but I lost 9 pounds in 2 weeks. Also, started excercising daily. That's why I'm not spending much time on the blog.
Enjoyed your dishes as usual. Broccoli and cheese is such a classic combination. Excellent entry for the event.

Chibog in Chief said...

i'm jealous..i love this idea of blog event..colors and recipes...and your entry is sublime..broccoli with cheese and cream sauce...would love a big serving of this dish :-)

Raks said...

Very happy that you have enabled your comments section...so that even if somebody hav any doubts in your posts also they can get clarification right?!
Miss you a lot! Thankyou for remembering me Asha:)

FH said...

Kribha, that is excellent news, keep up with it. I am into some exercising every day too since I changed the way I blog, feels so good.You are welcome to talk to me any day. Keep in touch, you can e mail me, I don't mind at all!:))

Dhangitt, thanks. I did your MeMe, will post today!:)

Raks, thanks. I always care about you girl. It's just that I had to recondition myself to blog the right way!:))

Daily Meals said...

Hi Asha! Nice entry. I like broccoli.

FH said...

Enjoy Vijaya,thanks!:))

Anonymous said...

Hi Asha
You have a nice blog. I enjoyed every bit of it.Will come back for recipes.Thanks.
Vani.

FH said...

Vani, thank you. Enjoy and visit my other blog too!:)

krystyna said...

Hi Asha!

Happy Republic Day of India!

FH said...

Thanks K, you are a sweetheart!:))