For dinner, I have a tendency to make a protein (chicken, steak, etc.) and slap one or two side vegetables with it, not really using a recipe for the side dishes. There are so many wonderful recipes for vegetables and side dishes that I’ve really started looking for simple and/or tasty ones to add to dinner. Sometimes we have just vegetables and no meat (translation of all-vegetable night – forgot to thaw out meat), and that’s where a good vegetable recipe comes in handy.
I found this Broccoli Cheese Bake in a Southern Living cookbook (recipe by Nancy Rumbaugh of the beautiful State of South Carolina) and, even though there was no photo with it, the ingredients looked great. It almost sounds like a breakfast recipe with the cottage cheese, bacon, and eggs, but it turned out to be a wonderful main dish for our vegetable night dinner.
The eggs (5 of those little gems) made it into kind of, sort of a frittata, but the cottage cheese, bacon, and broccoli really added a depth of flavor and texture. I thought it was wonderful and Bret even had two helpings – this coming from a definite anti-frittata man. Here’s a closeup photo of all of those wonderful ingredients put together and baked.
OK, I may have added a bit more shredded cheese on top than called for, but it ended up working well with it. The hardest part of the recipe was chopping up the broccoli! After taking the stalk off, I just chopped it all up instead of breaking off each broccoli floret. Worked great and we will definitely be having this Broccoli Cheese Bake again on all-vegetable night.
- 1 1/2 lb broccoli , stemmed and chopped
- 5 large eggs , lightly beaten
- 1 C cottage cheese
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground pepper
- 4 bacon slices , cooked and crumbled
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Throw broccoli into a pot with boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes until crisp-tender. Drain broccoli and pat dry. Arrange broccoli evenly in a lightly greased 11 x 7" baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, cottage cheese, flour, salt, pepper and crumbled bacon and stir well. Pour egg mixture over the broccoli, gently moving the broccoli with a spoon so the mixture will sink down to the bottom a little.
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Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle evenly with cheddar cheese and bake another 5 minutes. Turn oven to broil and place under the broiler for 2-3 minutes to brown the cheese (watch carefully). Let stand for about 5 minutes before serving.
Tips and Stuff:
To lightly grease the dish, I dipped the edge of a paper towel in the bacon drippings and wiped it around the dish.
A little sauteed onion would be good in this, too.