So today I have been out and picked the last of my cauliflowers and several heads of Broccoli. The rain and a couple of warm days and they want to go to flower so they needed to be picked. Trouble is there is much more than we can use this week.
So today I have made beautiful cauliflower and broccoli au gratin. We will have one with dinner this evening the rest will go into the freezer for use later. I do freeze both broccoli and cauliflower florets by blanching and then freezing, but the resulting product is not the same as fresh and I tend to only use it in soups.
The au gratin, however, when thawed and gently heated is almost the same as if it had been made that day.
So what do I do?
• Pick and wash cauliflower and broccoli, cut into florets
• Slightly steam the cauliflower till just tender
• Then lightly steam the broccoli – I don’t do them at the same time as the broccoli takes half as long to cook as the cauliflower
• Make a cheese sauce, and grate some extra cheese for sprinkling ontop.
• Place an even mixture of broccoli and cauliflower into a heat proof dish, cover with cheese sauce, sprinkle with bread crumbs and more grated cheese and pop into the oven until golden brown.
• Allow to cool. Wrap in cling or place in a plastic bag, extract the air and freeze.
To reheat:
• Remove from the freezer and thaw in the fridge.
• When thawed place in a moderate oven for 30mins
I love to have this au gratin with a roast leg of lamb, baked potato and streamed carrots and snow peas.
Bellissimo !
Are you having a glut of broccoli or cauliflower at your place? If you try this recipe out I want to know about it! Share it with me on my Facebook page.
If you wish that you had a glut of broccoli or cauliflower, maybe what you need is a bit of advice about your garden. Email me for consultations and rates.
Mum used to make cauliflower cheese when I was a kid. YUM! I’ve made it with broccoli too although I never knew you could freeze it. 🙂
Your broccoli supplies wouldn’t last in our house. My kids will eat them raw, straight from the bush! I had some that never really formed heads but ran straight to flower which I intended to feed to our goats but my kids hijacked 2 each and ate them flowers and all. It was the funniest sight seeing 2 little people each holding a broccoli plant half their size, grazing on it as they ran around the garden. 🙂
This is just such a positive vision! Really shows that the future of our food supply is in good hands. I tend to find that the broccoli heads form better if you use a high nitrogen feed in the earlier stages of their growth, like I spoke about here: http://bit.ly/1tyCJSP. Maybe its a good idea to put in a few more broccoli plants for next year!
I fully intend to! I grew purple sprouting broccoli last year which were brilliant. I was slack sowing seeds this year and missed the window but I will be sowing them come summer, ready to fruit over the winter. Far more prolific than any headed variety I have seen and the bright purple is kind of cool too. 🙂