Tag Archives: broccoli recipes

Recipes, Vegetables & Salads, Vegetarian

Recreating a Restaurant Vegetable – Broccoli with Mornay Sauce

At the beginning of March, my roomie and I went to San Jose to see Celtic Thunder and decided to eat at a restaurant near the theater.  While the cuisine was a little pricier than we had expected, it was fantastic.  One of the dishes we ordered was Broccoli with Mornay Sauce that was just wonderful  So, I decided to recreate this with a low carb Mornay.    Couple this with my joy in finally getting a whole case of kohlrabi that I ordered from my grocery store because no one in Reno has gotten in kohlrabi in over 8 months.  I was in withdrawal!  It’s like taking away my potatoes, only worse, because it’s my substitute for potatoes.  So, my version of the broccoli dish is now Broccoli and Kohlrabi with Mornay Sauce.  You can make it without the kohlrabi by increasing the broccoli, but give it a try with the “cousin” root vegetable.  It is really good.

Broccoli & Kohlrabi with Mornay Sauce

1 cup Broccoli, cut into pieces
1 cup Kohlrabi, 1/4″ cubes
1/2 cup Leeks, sliced
4 cloves Garlic, sliced
2 slices Bacon, fried (optional)
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1 tablespoon Butter
1 1/2 tablespoon Low Carb Flour
1/2 cup Water
Pinch Pepper
1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg
1 oz. Cream Cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Prepare sauce: In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour to form a paste. Remove from heat and stir in cream, water, pepper and nutmeg. Return to heat and stir until the sauce begins to thicken. Add cream cheese and Parmesan cheese and stir until it is melted in. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F.)

Steam broccoli, kohlrabi and leeks in a bowl in the microwave or in a steamer until just tender, about 3 to 4 minutes in the microwave. In an oven safe skillet, add a little butter and the chopped garlic and cook until just fragrant. Add the vegetables and cook a couple of minutes, then add the sauce and mix together until completely coated. Break the bacon into pieces and sprinkle over the top of the vegetables, then sprinkle a little more Parmesan cheese on top.

Bake in oven for 15 to 20 minutes until the top is just starting to brown. Remove, let cool for a few minutes, then serve.

Makes 4 servings

Nutrition Info per serving:
Calories: 235.3 Fat: 20.5 g Net Carbs: 5.3 g Protein: 6.6 g

Note:  For vegetarian, omit the Bacon.

 

Recipes

Warm Up With A Welsh Broccoli Bacon Soup

An unseasonably cold weather front moved into the Reno area on Saturday with high winds and lots of chill, so the idea of a nice, warming soup was really appealing. I had been thinking about a broccoli cheese soup for a few days anyway, so this was the ideal time to do it. For my soup, I used a Welsh White Cheddar Cheese, hence the name Welsh Broccoli Bacon Soup. You can use any strong Cheddar if Welsh isn’t available at your grocery. An Irish White Cheddar would be very close to the same flavor. I find the Irish and Welsh cheeses do have a stronger flavor than American cheddar.

Another unusual ingredient in this soup is Daikon Radish, which is standing in for potatoes. It’s probably not something that you ever thought about using in a soup (or maybe you’ve never tried it at all), but it does a really good job at pretending to be a potato. The cooked texture is similar and the taste is mild, with a hint of pepper. In case you’re not sure what a Daikon radish is, it’s the big, long white root that looks like a huge tuber, which it is. It has a mild pepper taste and is very versatile from using it raw in salads, to roasting, boiling, frying or even making hash browns. I often mix it with turnips and cauliflower to make a mashed vegetable in place of mashed potatoes. The Herbs de Provence add a unusual flavor to the soup with a hint of lavender and fennel in it.

Welsh Cheddar, Broccoli and Bacon Soup

2 cups Broccoli, fresh, chopped
1 cup Daikon Radish, diced
1/2 cup Onions, chopped
4 cups Chicken Broth or 4 teaspoons Better than Bullion Chicken and 4 cups Water
2 oz Welsh White Cheddar Cheese
1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 cup Mushrooms, fresh, chopped
3 slices Thick Sliced Bacon, cooked and broken into pieces
1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence
1/4 teaspoon Dried Celeraic leaves
Salt and Pepper to taste

I used the food processor to chop the broccoli into very tiny pieces, but if you would prefer to see larger pieces, by all means don’t chop them finely.

In a large sauce pan, add the chicken broth or bullion, the herbs, the broccoli, onions and daikon cubes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a medium simmer. Add the mushrooms and bacon. Let simmer for about 30 minutes. Stir a couple of times.

Add heavy cream, mushrooms and cheddar cheese. Reduce heat to a low simmer and let it cook another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. If it isn’t thickening up, you can continue to cook it until it gets thicker or add 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch or Thick-It-Up.

When adding thickener, mix the thickener in a cup with enough water to make a paste. Add a couple of tablespoons of the soup mixture and mix it in, then add more of the soup mixture and blend it in. Repeat until the cup is mostly full of blended soup mixture, then add it to soup pot and stir well to mix it. This will prevent the thickener from forming lumps in the soup.

When the soup is the consistency you prefer, it’s ready to serve.

Makes four 1- 1/3 cup servings

Nutrition Info per serving: (a little higher with corn starch)
Calories: 205 Fat: 17.2 g Net Carbs: 4.4 g Protein: 7.0 g

Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

Summer’s End with Greek Style Spaghetti Squash

Luckily for us, summer’s end doesn’t mean the end of many of the vegetables we’ve enjoyed all summer, like broccoli, zucchini andbell peppers since so many of these are easily brought in from sunnier climates where they grow in the winter.  It does mark the start of the late fall vegetables, like pumpkins, acorn and butternut squashes, and spaghetti squash, when they will be more readily available.  In fact, some of you may have some growing in your garden.  Not so here, but the market had a steady supply of these through the summer and I hope to see more of the less common ones showing up soon.

For now, here’s a recipe that combines spaghetti squash with broccoli in a Greek-style dish.

Greek Style Spaghetti Squash

2 cups Spaghetti Squash, cooked
1 cup Broccoli, chopped and par-boiled
2 tablespoons Sour Cream
1 teaspoon Oregano, ground
1 teaspoon Lemon Juice, preferably freshly squeezed
1 cup Spinach, fresh and chopped
1/2 teaspoon Garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon Pepper, black
1/2 teaspoon Parsley, dried or 1 tablespoon fresh
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 tablespoons Butter or Olive Oil

If you haven’t already cooked the spaghetti squash, do it before starting. You can cut it in half and bake in the oven, face down on a foil-covered baking sheet for 30 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees (F.) Or pierce the squash a few times with a knife, wrap in plastic wrap and microwave for about 5 minutes.   Cut the squash open and remove the seeds, then cut or pull the stands of squash away from the shell and separate into strands.

Cut broccoli into pieces. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil, then add the broccoli and cook for 1 minute once the water comes back to a boil. Drain in a colander to get as much water off as possible.

In a large skillet, add butter or olive oil and heat about 1 minute on medium high heat. Add garlic and saute a minute or two. Add the spaghetti squash and broccoli and cook, stirring a little, for about five minutes. Add the seasonings, lemon juice and sour cream and stir in, then add the spinach. Cook until the spinach wilts, then serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Info:
Calories: 52.7 Fat: 1.7 g Net Carbs: 6.4 g Protein: 2.0 g

 

Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

Tomato Broccoli Spaghetti Squash Pie

So, what to do with the other half of the spaghetti squash that you cooked up? Make it into a tomato broccoli pie with the squash becoming the crust for it. Right now, fresh tomatoes are easy to get, but look for the vine ripened, firm ones. Check the local produce markets for the end of August crops. In my area, some of the summer plants are just really getting into full production.

This is a colorful and delicious dish that can easily become a main dish by adding bacon or diced chicken to it. Or serve it on the side with any grilled meat or fish. It goes with just about anything. I used a Mexican four cheese mix, which is what I had on hand, but I think it would really be great with a sharp cheddar.

Tomato Broccoli Squash Pie

2 cups Spaghetti Squash, cooked
2 Red Ripe Tomatoes, medium (about 2 1/2″ diameter)
1 cup Broccoli, chopped
2 tablespoons Carbquick or other low carb flour or thickener
1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 teaspoon Garlic powder
1 teaspoon Lawry’s Seasoning Salt,
1 Egg
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheese (your preference)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, mix together the spaghetti squash, 1/2 cup of the cheese and the egg. Make sure to mix the egg completely into mixture. It is the binder that will hold this together. Spray a pie plate with cooking spray then spread the squash mixture over the pan and up the sides to form the crust. Put in the oven for 10 minutes to partially cook the crust.

Slice the tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices. Chop the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. Spread the broccoli over the squash crust evenly.

In a sauce pan, make the cheese sauce. Melt 1 tablespoon butter and add the flour and stir to mix to make a paste. Add the whipping cream, 1/4 cup of water, and garlic powder and stir well. Cook until it begins to thicken. Add the rest of the cheese and stir until it is melted and blended into the mixture.

Reserve about 1/4 cup of the cheese sauce for the top, then spoon the rest over the broccoli. (If you want to add bacon, you can break four to six slices of cooked bacon into pieces and spread them over the broccoli.) Layer the tomatoes over the top. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper to your preference on top of this. Dot with the reserved cheese sauce.

Bake for 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and starting to toast.

Makes yummy 6 servings.


Nutrition Info:
Calories: 219.5 Fat: 17 g Net Carbs: 7 g Protein: 9.3

Posted on 9/4/2013