Broccoli Souffle (And...I'm...Back!)

Yes, I know I have been gone for quite a while. I have reasons, I really do. First, I have an in-home tutoring business (I go to their homes), and summer is my busiest time. Second, when school started and the tutoring dropped off, I was scurrying to find some way to supplement my income. I spent hours running round trying to get paperwork together, fingerprints done, letters of reference from clients, so that I could (shudder) substitute teach. But with the unemployment situation the way it is, I have a suspicion that many other people had the same idea. As of this writing, I have yet to sub. Third, I have been working on a monkey quilt for my grandson. (It's coming along nicely, thank you.) So, I am now finding myself with a little time again, and since cooking and tutoring are my two passions, I turn back to the blog! My goal is to be more consistent in posting. Wish me luck.

This is another recipe from the Farm Journal cookbooks, and my hubby has been after me for months to try it. As I usually do I changed a couple of things. The original recipe called for American cheese. The only excuse I can come up with for that is until the last ten years or so, better cheeses were not readily available at the market. And I remember that when my mother would make a sauce for broccoli or cauliflower she would use Velveeta. At least Velveeta melts nicely...but American? I'm not sure what the thinking was on that one. So I substituted cheddar and Parmesan. Fontina and gueyre would also be delicious in this recipe. Frozen broccoli was also in the original recipe, but I used fresh and first cooked it in my steamer. Make sure it's undercooked.

Ingredients

3 TBS. butter

3 TBS. flour

1 cup milk

1/4 tsp. salt (I use sea salt)

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. pepper (fresh ground)

1 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 small heads broccoli slightly cooked and chopped

3 egg yolks, beaten

3 egg whites, stiffly beaten (not meringue stiffness)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in saucepan; stir in flour. Cook this mixture for a few minutes to eliminate excess starchiness. Add milk, salt, garlic powder, and pepper: cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes. Add cheese; stir until melted. Fold in broccoli, onion and egg yolks. Gently fold in egg white. Pour into a buttered (I used a cooking spray) 2-qt. souffle dish. Set in shallow baking pan. Add hot water to pan to 1/2 inch depth. Bake 1 hour or until puffy or do what I did...insert a metal skewer and if it comes out clean it's done.

Notes: My souffle did not rise high and puffy over the top of the dish. I have two thoughts on that. 1. My dish was too big. When I make this again I am going to increase the ingredients. If I am not mistaken, I think the mixture should reach the top of the the dish and mine didn't even come close. But it was still yummy. 2. This had a lot of broccoli in it and that, too, may have inhibited it's rising. I welcome any suggestions as to how to make this more puffy. Hubby thought it was great as is, but I am going to continue to tweak it. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime...Enjoy!

Broccoli-Rice Bake

Next to cooking, tutoring, and maybe quilting, the thing I really love to do is read. I'm not a heavy duty, philosophical, non-fiction (for the most part) reader.  Pure escapism is where I get my jollies. It's my "Calgon, take me away" fix. I especially love good detective and suspense novels. But recently I strayed a bit from my norm and read an incredibly funny memoir about....drum roll here...cooking!  I just finished Julie&Julia...My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell. Seems young Julie, back shortly after 9/11, was feeling some dissatisfaction with her career, or lack there of, and decides she should take on the project of cooking Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, volume 1. And she is going to do it in one year....524 recipes. And she is going to blog about it. This after a full day of work that wasn't very satisfying. What was she??? Nuts??!! The book regales the reader with stories from that experience. And the book is also now a movie being released this summer with Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as Julie Powell. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the movie in August. But be warned, Julie's language is a bit bawdy.

Personally, I am sticking to the recipes from the Farm Journal's cookbooks. Few surprises, and I understand the processes these hardy farm women used. And the majority of people I cook for will eat these dishes. Such as the following.

This is a delicious side that dresses up a main meat dish such as chicken, chops, or fish, but is also great as a meatless entree. And as a dish for a pot luck, you can't beat it. I did some updating to the original recipe, both to add flavor and nutrition. This is one of my hubby's favorite dishes. (Farm Journal's Best-Ever Recipes, published in 1977.)

Ingredients

2 TBS. butter or half butter and half olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 stalks celery chopped

3 cloves garlic grated

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1 cup chicken broth (if you want to make this vegetarian use vegetable broth)

1 to 1 1/2 cups packed grated cheddar cheese

4 oz. cubed Velveeta (trust me on this)

3 cups cooked brown rice

2 medium to large heads of fresh broccoli chopped in large pieces and cooked until just barely tender (it cooks more in the casserole)

Saute onion, celery, and garlic in butter in a large saucepan until the veggies are very tender. Combine soup, broth and cheese. Add to the saucepan and heat until the cheeses are melted. Combine rice and broccoli in a very large bowl. Gently stir in the soup/cheese mixture. Fold until thoroughly mixed. Pour into a greased 2 quart casserole or 9 X 13 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Notes: This casserole has many layers of flavor. The brown rice and fresh broccoli add another layer of nutrition. It's side dish that can do double duty as a vegetarian main dish. Hurray for versatility.  Enjoy!