Three things to do with broccoli

Top tip: Bulk bake to add variety and stop you feeling like you're eating a mountain of the same vegetable.
I harvested my first broccoli at the weekend.  While not as big as the giant cauliflowers that were grown on a neighbouring plot (and were also left to fester and rot) it was pretty impressive and I decided it would make 3 decent meals.

The first dish was an easy mid week meal and a variation on a Nigel Slater recipe - broccoli in an holandaise sauce. I cheated on the sauce and used a packet and served it with runner beans mixed with onions and bacon. I am a firm believer in bacon jazzing up any vegetable.

The second meal was a broccoli and bean bake based on a recipe from The Great Allotment Cookbook.  I used cannellini beans instead of butter beans as it was all I had in the store cupboard and added horseradish and mustard to give it a bit of a kick.  I served it with a dollop of Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall's courgette 'glutney' (love that name!).

1 onion finely chopped
300ml milk
2 tbsp flour
1/2 teaspoon herbs
425g beans, rinsed and drained
tbsp of horseradish and mustard to taste
150g broccoli divided into small florets
8 cherry tomatoes or 4 full sized, chopped
1 tbsp of tomato paste
1 tbsp cheese
50g breadcrumbs
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Soften the onions then add the flour, milk and herbs and bring to the boil. Once sauce is boiling, reduce the heat and cook for 3 minutes or until thickened. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, horseradish and mustard and salt to taste.  Add the beans, broccoli to the sauce and bring to the boil. Pour into an oven proof dish. mix the breadcrumbs with the cheese and put on top of the broccoli mixture. Cook for 20-25 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the breadcrumbs are beginning to brown.  Here is what it looked like before I added the breadcrumbs and cheese.

I also prepared a twice baked cheese souffle as a friend is coming on Friday and i thought I'd serve it with a sharp green salad.  Souffles are not nearly as scary as they are made out to be if you follow the steps. 

Twice baking also means that you can cook it ahead of time (and even freeze it) and then just reheat it when friends are coming round. It's much more fun to socialise with them than worry about egg whites and souffles rising.
I used a recipe from the Fruit and Veg Grower's Cookbook.

75g butter, softened
150g broccoli (avoid thick stalks but some thinner stalks are fine)
25g flour ( I used wholemeal for fibre)
150ml milk (semi or skimmed is fine if you're watching your fat intake)
50g mature cheddar (the stronger the better), grated
3 large eggs, separated
2 tsp of mustard, powder or British (brings out the cheese flavour perfectly)

Preheat the oven to 190 C. Grease an oven proof dish (you can also do 4 large ramekins) and place a circle of baking paper on the bottom (though mine got tangled up and I had to remove it and the souffle still came out of the dish OK).

Finely chop the broccoli along with any small stalks until it resembles chopped herbs. Melt 25g butter in a frying pan and fry the broccoli until just softened. Remove from the heat.

Melt another 25g into a saucepan and stir in the flour. Cook while stirring for 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Stir in the milk bit by bit, then return to the heat until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove again from the heat.

Stir in the broccoli, mustard, grated cheese and egg yolks and mix well. whisk the egg whites till stiff and fold in with a metal spoon.

Pour into the oven proof dish and cook for about 30-40 minutes until risen and browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Cover and chill till ready to serve. Or you could freeze it at this point and it will last up to 6 months. If you do decide to freeze then let it thaw in the fridge overnight and then cook as below.

When ready to serve, preheat the oven again to 190C. Put the souffle on a baking sheet. Melt the remaining 25g and brush over the top. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan and bake for 20 minutes until warm and crisp.