They say that "A rose by any other name is still a rose." Did you know that also applies to broccoli? Broccoli in French is still broccoli! Thus begins the adventure of preparing Choux Broccoli a la Mornay, Gratinee -- Broccoli Gratineed With Cheese Sauce.
Having worked my way through most of the brussel sprout recipes, and being ready to have a different vegetable, I decided broccoli would be a fun change. I opened "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and, much to my surprise, discovered that there are less than two pages of recipes. Ah, Julia was being clever -- after a brief lesson on how to cut and peel the broccoli head Julia simply explains that all of the recipes used for brussel sprouts can be done with broccoli instead! Cool! I've had a lot of success with the brussel sprouts so this seemed like an easy thing to do!
The first step was cutting the head of broccoli into individual florets about 2-3 inches long. Let me pause for a moment to ask you experts out there. I know it is a head of lettuce but is it really called a head of broccoli? What is the entire thing called? Is it a broccole and the itty bitty buds are the broccoli? My kids used to call them "trees" when they were little but to an adult these things look much smaller than a tree. Oh well, I think you know what I was talking about.
Elizabeth was observing, from a safe distance, as I was cutting the things up and started to mock me as I followed Julia's instructions to peel the stem of the broccolets (okay, so I suppose they're called florets but broccolet seems to be a better description). Remembering how long it took to peel asparagus I was filled with dread until is started peeling these things. Easy peasey. I only needed to trim the bottom inch or so of the larger stem and it was pretty easy to tell what was the thicker skin needing to be removed. It did make a difference when cooked -- everything was nice and tender, even the pieces of the larger stems. The real key was to be sure to remove the little leafy wings that were on the side of some of the stems.
As is done with most of the vegetable recipes, the broccoli was blanched for about 5 minutes Julia actually said about 7 minutes but I've learned that her times tend to make the veggies a little softer than we like. 5 minutes worked out perfect for us. I continue to be amazed at the color change when blanching the vegetables. The broccoli almost instantly went from a dull gray to a bright green that stayed even when drained.
While the broccoli was blanching I was making my mornay sauce. Remember that one? First the roux, then the bechamel sauce, and then in went freshly shredded guierre Swiss cheese. I realllllllllllly like that sauce and it is soooooo easy to make. As I've written about before, the biggest thing I've learned with the bechamel step of the sauce is to be sure to use hot (boiling) milk, not cold milk. The sauce finishes and thickens in less than two minutes because the milk is already hot.
After blanching the broccoli went into a strainer and I prepared two 9x13 pans. My veggie eating kids and grandkids were coming for dinner so I used 3 heads of broccoli to make two pans of the broccoli for this dinner. About 1/3 of the mornay sauce went into the bottom of the pans and then the broccoli was arranged on the sauce. The remainder of the mornay sauces was then poured evenly over the broccoli and each pan was then sprinkled with about 1/4 cup of shredded guierre Swiss cheese.
At this point the preparation was done and, if I was preparing a bunch of other things, it could be finished in the oven later on. This time around, though, Elizabeth was making the entree and it was finishing up when I was ready for the final step. The final step was to put the pans into the oven broiler on medium high for about 3 minutes to melt the cheese, reheat the broccoli, and slightly brown the cheese layer on top. This goes quick so be careful to not get distracted and burn your creation. Perhaps you noticed in the finished photo at the top of this post that I didn't burn it? Yep, I am making progress. I didn't even burn myself!
The rest was history. The dinner was served, the broccoli gratine was devoured, and everyone seemed t really enjoy it. This is now officially a recipe that I will no doubt be making for us again in the future. Try it, you'll like it!
Bon Appetit!
Vegetables and Cheese. Nowhere to fail.
This was sooooo yummy I want it again!