Horazio’s Kitchen: Broccoli Apple Cheddar Bake

It’s snowing today, and it’s the weekend. A perfect recipe for cabin fever, and cabin fever, for me, tends to lead to kitchen experiments. You know how it goes…you have this and that in the fridge, needing to be used up, and the weather outside is frightful so there’s no going to the store for whatever you’re missing to make your usual recipes. But if we throw THIS and THIS together, maybe…

So I had some broccoli that needed to make way for, um, more broccoli scheduled to arrive in Tuesday’s produce bin delivery. And a crisper drawer full of apples, some of which were getting past their prime. And I wondered how broccoli and apples TOGETHER would work. Did a bit of Googling and saw some enticing recipes for broccoli/apple salads, lots of those, and a couple of broccoli-apple soups that I would have tried if not that there are already three different soups leftover in the fridge from past snowy days of staying home and cooking. (Note to self: Def. try the broccoli apple soups another day though!) But I like my broccoli roasted, so I decided just to toss the apples in with it and see what happened!

First, I cut up the broccoli into florets (and a few stem pieces for good measure, cut small enough to be easily eaten). Then I cored & diced the apples. Both went into a big ziploc bag, to be tossed with a tablespoon or so of olive oil, a bit of minced garlic from the jar in the fridge, and a few shakes of ground garlic. (Don’t ask for measurements, I rarely measure when I’m experimenting like this, except for the things that have carbs, and that is only under duress, because my pancreas can’t measure the carbs for itself…) Spread that out in a foil-lined, olive oil-sprayed roasting dish and roast uncovered 30 minutes at 400 degrees F until the apples are fork-tender and the broccoli’s just starting to brown a bit at the edges:

While it’s roasting, grate some white cheddar (finally an excuse to use the new mouli grater I got for Christmas! My previously much-grated fingers are so happy now…):

And when the roast comes out of the oven, spread the cheese over the top:

And leave it in the oven another 10 minutes or so till the cheese is all nicely melted, like this:

Meanwhile, toast some almond slivers in a small skillet. Shake it FREQUENTLY to keep them from burning. Try not to let them burn as much as I did…heh. (They were just right when I turned the burner off. Failing to then move them OFF of the burner was the problem…) Take it off the burner when they are just turned brown.

Stick the roasting dish under the broiler for a few minutes to brown the apples a little while the almonds are toasting:

And finally, sprinkle the toasted almonds over the top and be amazed!

Seriously, it was a very nice savory/sweet combo and much better than plain ol’ broccoli and cheese!

Ingredient list:
Broccoli florets and stem pieces (about 1 lb)
Apple (1 medium, cored and diced)
White cheddar cheese (about 3 oz, grated) (Mine was a 75% reduced fat variety because that’s all I had in the fridge on this snowed-in day)
Slivered almonds (1/4 c, toasted)
Olive oil (probably about 1-2 Tbsp…)
Minced garlic (2 tsp-1 Tbsp?)
Ground ginger (about 1/4 tsp maybe. Or a few shakes till it looks properly gingered! Fresh grated ginger would also be splendid if you have it)

Serves 4. Or you could eat the whole thing and call it a meal.
1 serving = 176 Calories/15 carbs/4.8 g Fiber for the ingredients I used, but your figures may vary.