Monday, November 8, 2021

Crunchy Gouda Broccoli Bake

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 I’m sure that I am not alone in occasionally having the experience that while I have a lot of food on hand, I don’t seem to be able to make anything with it. I decided to get serious about creating something, and came up with a real winner. I went a little crazy buying pasta (I bought 4 boxes of cellentani, and now it would appear I have a pasta collection), had half a can of French fried onions in the pantry, a crown of broccoli threatening to go bad in the fridge, and a chunk of Gouda that was beginning to show its age. Enter the Crunchy Gouda Broccoli Bake. It is a one-pot wonder with components that are dumped into a casserole dish and baked until the cheese melts. It makes a great main dish, or tasty side. Not all of my experiments work out as well as this one did. I hope you’ll give it a try.

Crunchy Gouda Broccoli Bake

1 head broccoli, broken into florets
2 c.
cellentani pasta
4 T. butter
½ onion, diced
1 t.
Melissa’s minced garlic
¼ c. flour
3 c. whole milk
1 c. shredded gouda, divided
¼ t. freshly grated nutmeg
¼ t. kosher salt, or to taste
Few gratings freshly ground black pepper
French fried onions

Spray a
1½-qt. casserole with PAM; set aside.

In a
medium stockpot, cook pasta according to package directions. During the last 3 to 4 minutes of cooking, add broccoli. Drain and place into the casserole dish; set aside.

Return the stockpot to the burner and set it to medium/low heat. Melt butter. When butter has melted, stir in onion, and cook until translucent. While you are cooking the onion, preheat oven to 350° F. Stir in garlic, cook for one minute. Stir in flour, and stir constantly for one minute. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. Cook until slightly thickened, about five minutes; remove from heat. Stir in ½ c. cheese until smooth. Stir in nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Pour mixture over broccoli and pasta, tossing to coat. Top with remaining ½ c. cheese and French fried onions. Bake until the cheese has melted and top is golden brown.

Serve immediately.

Makes for ample main dish servings, or multiple side dishes.

5 comments:

Angie's Recipes said...

That is incredibly delicious! I love how cheesy it looks.

Marie Smith said...

This looks delicious! A must try for sure.

thepaintedapron.com said...

Yum, you had me at French fried onions! Thank you Pattie!
Jenna

Alycia Nichols said...

Great for Meatless Mondays or anytime! The little Mr. would, of course, only want it as a side dish, but I could eat it as the entree with total glee!

Lana said...

Yum! This sounds wonderful. I have a stupid amount of cheese on hand so this will be great to use some of it up.