Vegetable meal is a challenge. Parents like me has to be creative and it's not impossible to be one, the resources for gazillions of recipes are everywhere, from books, friends, and yes, the widest resource of them all.... the internet.
Mornay sauce is one of the many cheese sauces. The secret is not to make it too thick, stir the cheese off the heat so that it melts gently... don't rush...
Tip 1: Have equal quantities of broccolli and cauliflower heads so it's not too green and not too boring.
Tip 2: This sauce can also be used with pasta. The cheese crumbs make a whole lot of difference
Tip 3: If you prefer smaller bites, you can slice the inner parts of broccolli and cauliflower florets
Tip 4: Do not overcook/overboil the vegetables!
Tip 5: Use a shallow oven dish so you have just one layer of vegs and each bite gets your cheese crumble
Took me 20 minutes...
Ingredients:
1 medium cauliflower
1 medium broccolli
1 onion
3 hard boiled eggs, quartered
2-3 tbsp seasoned breadcrumbs
For the mornay sauce:
3 tbsp butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1 1/4 cups grated mature cheddar cheese
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and ground black pepper
Serves 3
Trim the cauliflower and broccoli ends and cut them into even-size florets.
Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil and cook the cauliflower, broccolli and onion slices for 5-7 minutes or until just tender.
Drain the vegetables and arrange in a shallow flameproof dish and add the quartered eggs.
To make the sauce, melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour. Cook gently for 1 minute, stirring occassionally and taking care not to brown the flour.
Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly. Bring to the boil, whisking until smooth and thick. Lower the heat and simmer for 2 minutes.
Whisk in 3/4 of the cheese and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper
Preheat the broiler. Pour the sauce over the veg. Mix the remaining cheese and breadcrumbs.
Sprinkle the cheese and breadcrumb mixture over the vegs. Grill (broil) until bubbling and golden brown.
Enjoy the yummy concoction!
-AcousticChef.... cookin' one tune at a time!