One of my family’s favorite comfort foods is a steamy plate of cheesy, broccoli casserole. Of course, the version I grew up eating was made with Cheese Whiz (seriously). As an adult, I adapted it into a main course by adding cut up chunks of sausage. Then, as a Real Foodie, I adapted it further by creating my own easy cheese sauce. Lately, as a low-carber, I’ve been adapting it even further by cutting out the rice and using grated cauliflower.
I’m going to let you guys in on how to make it — with any meat or no meat, rice or cauliflower. After all, it’s the cheesy broccoli part that truly makes the dish. AND, I’m going to let you in on how to make it in a single skillet, no hot oven necessary.
Versatile Broccoli Casserole
The Players
- 4 cups of cooked brown rice (or grated cauliflower) (where to find sprouted rice)
- 1 head of broccoli, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp. butter (where to find butter from grass-fed cows)
- 1 lb of cooked meat (nitrate-free sausage is my favorite, or you could go meatless)
- 2 tbsp. butter (where to find butter from grass-fed cows)
- 2 tbsp. flour (where to find sprouted flours)
- 1 cup of milk (where to find milk from grass-fed cows)
- 8 oz. grated cheese (experiment! I love a sharp cheddar in this, but I’ve done it with a smoked gouda, too.)
- 1/2 cup of sour cream
- salt & pepper to taste (where to find real sea salt)
The How-To
1. In a large (12-in), deep skillet, melt 2 tbsp. of butter and add the broccoli, onions, and optional cauliflower (if not using rice). Cook over medium heat, occasionally stirring, until veggies are tender. Add cooked meat (if using meat) and cooked rice (if using rice).
2. Scoot the cooked vegetable medley off to the edges of the skillet, creating a well in the middle, just over the burner. Reduce heat to medium low. Melt 2 more tbsp of butter in the well, then quickly stir in flour to make a hot roux. When the roux is mixed & bubbly, pour in cold milk and continue stirring, raising heat to medium. As the mixture thickens, begin stirring the vegetables into the sauce.
3. Evenly distribute the cheese over the whole skillet, and continue stirring the contents. Once cheese is melted, remove the casserole from heat. Stir in sour cream, and add salt & pepper to taste.
4. Enjoy!
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“Versatile Broccoli Casserole” — I like that name. “Versatile” and “casserole” are two words that belong together.
My recipe for a casserole is just to combine any odd ingredients that I have in my refrigerator or pantry. I eat a lot of those dishes, and they vary a lot, depending on what I have handy.
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New post: Versatile Broccoli Casserole http://bit.ly/9CWJx3
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You’ve made me hungry! Thanks for the great recipe…my 2 year old will love it.
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It’s definitely a hit with the kids. 🙂
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This looks so delicious! I used to love pouring heaps of cheese on my broccoli!
While I do not eat much dairy anymore, I enjoy raw cheese here and there. And, I LOVE broccoli!! I will have to use cauliflower instead of rice though since I live primally 🙂
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It is *really good* with the cauliflower. You won’t be disappointed.
Looks great. I’ve always wondered when a recipe calls for a little bit of flour – can the flour be replaced by something like arrowroot or kudzu?
Daphne —
Great question. My first instinct is to say yes, because I use arrowroot powder for just such a purpose when I make queso (Creamy Mexican Cheese Dip). Anyhow, it seems like it may not work as a roux (because a roux really ought to be fat + flour), but that you could use the technique I outlined in that recipe to create the base for the cheese dip to also create a base for this cheesy sauce.
Oh my–you had me at “one skillet!” This looks wonderful. Thank you for sharing it. On another note: have you been to the new CP farmers’ market just south of you? It is amazing. I am so impressed!
Quick question. What sort of sour cream do you use? Do you make it from raw milk? If so can you point me in the right direction?
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Jenn — Two kinds. The first is one I make from raw cream. It’s so easy you’ll kick yourself: basically you just let it set out on the counter (covered) until it turns into sour cream. (Takes about 2 days). You can facilitate the process and give the good bacteria a great head start by adding a tablespoon or two of real cultured buttermilk into the mix. The second is store-bought brands, and I basically buy whatever’s available that’s organic & contains live cultures. So, at my nearest grocery store, that amounts to Horizon brand’s full-fat version.
This looks so awesome! Do you mean italian sausage or breakfast sausage or other? Link or bulk?
Karen — I’ve used both, but I normally use link sausage cut up into bite-sized pieces.
Versatile Broccoli Casserole | Food Renegade: http://bit.ly/bRCCQM #cheese
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Also, this is a super-versatile broccoli casserole — a hit w/the kids! http://su.pr/1bUv86 #realfood #primal #lowcarb
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Yeehaw, this looks yummy! Funny, I just saw a recipe for cheesy spinach casserole (and Evernoted it), but this looks even better. Mouth watering. 🙂
Yummy! I appreciate the gesture that one could go meatless with this too. 🙂
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Made this a few weeks ago with broccoli from my CSA box, raw milk cheddar and chopped Tasso ham from the local farmer’s market and it was oh-so-tasty! Seems like a great basic recipe in which you could substitute a number of veggies for the broccoli or the rice, such as the cauliflower mentioned above, as well as cabbage, chard or spinach, also. Maybe even turnips too? Because anything is better with cheese!!
YES! Hence the “versatile” in the title. Veggies + Meat + Roux + Cheese = Dinner.
This is the way i like recipes, add what you want or not what you want. i can picture this with zucchini and summer squash, and i do love Cabot’s Seriously Sharp.
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This looks so wonderful! I’m a big fan of broccoli, so this is perfect. My skillet probably isn’t big enough, but I can take the veggies out while I make the sauce and then add everything back in.
I made a version of this dish tonite. I had to make do with supplies on hand, like a frozen broccoli medley instead of fresh broccoli. Sauteed some chicken in butter, then browned some onion after I removed the chicken; added some fresh cubed zucchini that I needed to use up. I used a cheese medley called Mexican blend and since I did not have any sour cream on hand I used kefir. It was glorious! This will definitely be one of my go-to one dish meals.
Now THAT’S what I’m talking about. It’s versatile! Once you get the basic idea down, it’s so easy to just create, create, create with whatever you’ve got on hand or crave.
We’ve made this before and it is awesome. I’m wondering if anyone has tried freezing it??
I found this recipe in ‘Skinny Chicks Eat Real Food’ and just made it for lunch. Yum! Thank you!
I am definitely making this one this week…maybe tomorrow. YUM! Thanks for sharing.
Just made this and it was AMAZING! I did have a slight problem getting the broccoli tender enough but I’m pretty sure that was operator failure 😛 Can’t wait to have it for leftovers tomorrow!
Joyce Annanie
Wow you must have been rich; we got Velveeta 😉