Broccoli Cheese - Tenderstem in 10 challenge

With all the miserable weather it seemed positively autumnal but it's not the time for stews, long bakes and comfort food. You may have seen my broccoli pesto post last week; it was a good dinner, marvellous in fact, but I was left with another pack of broccoli. Another meal in under 10 minutes using less than 10 ingredients needed to be devised for the Tenderstem challenge.

I wanted to make something recognisable and filling, healthy and indulgent and of course quick and simple. After much head scratching I was almost at the point of deciding that I was ridiculous and almost opted for a broccoli sandwich when I changed my mind. Thank goodness I did; imagine how soggy a broccoli sandwich would be, no amount of condiments could cheer that up.

And so to dinner. Broccoli cheese doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as cauliflower cheese but it has all the flavour.
You will need:

1 pack of cottage cheese

A dribble of cream

A generous handful of strong cheese, grated

1 pack Tenderstem broccoli

Salt and pepper

Get the grill on full whack and some water on to boil. Put the cottage cheese and cream into a saucepan on a low heat. Stir the cottage cheese and cream together until you have a smooth (ish) sauce. Season the sauce. If you put the heat on too high the cheese will split as I found out the hard way once before. While the cheese is doing its thing, cook the broccoli in boiling water for two minutes.

Put the broccoli into a dish, cover with the cheese sauce and top with the grated cheese. Put under the grill for five minutes or until golden and bubbling. When I got the gratin out there was a bit of water at the bottom, I think it came out of the broccoli but a little bit of kitchen roll mopped that up no problem.

It perhaps lacked the silky smoothness of a proper cauliflower cheese but when you’ve got in from work on a miserable Monday this is like a saviour. Sort of like a friend you’ve known forever who’s just got a haircut; the same but slightly different.