Foody Friday: Broccoli Bake

As well as writing, I love to cook and invent things in the kitchen. Being a vegetarian, experimentation and an awareness of what is in my food is essential, and I have come to enjoy researching good sources of nutrition. If you know what you need, and what you like, creating tasty combinations can be really fun. I'm not saying it's effortless, but it really isn't that difficult to cook healthy, well-balanced and nutritional meals.

So I have decided that I will dedicate my Friday blogs to telling you all about my latest discoveries in the kitchen, including my own recipes and reports on other peoples'.

Today I have a recipe which I put together last week;

Notes:

- This recipe has quite  high fat content, but is balanced with plenty of vitamins and nutrients.

- Broccoli contains not only plenty of iron, but vitamin C as well, which helps the body absorb iron.

- The walnuts provide omega 3, which is most commonly found in oily fish. It's good to know that there are other sources for us veggies!

- The cheese provides calcium and B12. B12 is very important for vegetarians, as it can only be found naturally in animal products, including milk, cheese and eggs.

Broccoli Bake

Ingredients:

1 whole broccoli

1 whole camembert (250g)

35g walnuts, roughly chopped

25g frozen peas

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/190°C.

2. Chop the broccoli into reasonably sized florets. Chop off the end of the stalk and discard, then slice the stalk into ½ cm thick slices.

3. Boil the stalk and peas and steam the florets over the same pan for about 5-10 minutes. (If you don’t have a steamer, bung it all in one, but the florets won’t need as long to boil.)

4. Chop 150g camembert into chunks, removing but keeping the rind.

5. Drain the vegetables and place them back into the pan. Over a low heat, stir in the chunks of camembert so that it melts and mixes in with the veg.

6. Stir in the chopped walnuts, keeping some aside for the top.

7. Season with salt and pepper if you wish, although I found the flavour of the cheese was strong enough to hold its own.

8. Transfer into an ovenproof dish. Chop up the leftover rind and sprinkle on top.

9. Slice the rest of the camembert, keeping the rind on, and place evenly over the top of the dish. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts over the top

10. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes and serve immediately.

Best served with potatoes, roast or boiled. I served it with Garlic Potatoes (aka Grandma’s potatoes), coming next week.

Try it out and let me know what you think. I'm always open to ideas and variations. Enjoy!