Tag: broccoli

Personally Speaking

I Love Broccoli

Katherine

Quinoa, I hear people raving about it everywhere and now I finally decided to try and make something with it. I actually settled on a casserole since they are pretty hard to mess up and I will be honest the quinoa didn't have to carry the whole thing.

Since I love broccoli chicken casserole I decided to base the recipe off of that. And here is what I came up with:

The Ingredients (Standard stuff)

  • 2 cups of chicken broth
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • ½ cup flour (all-pupose)
  • 1 ½ cups water
  • Seasonings:
    • garlic powder
    • black pepper
    • red pepper flakes
    • salt
  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
    • Everyone has told me this is important and it said to do it on the package so I did my best. It is really hard and this was actually the first minus point I gave the product
  • 1 lb chicken breasts
    • I lightly grilled the chicken breast in oil since I thought that the quinoa would get soggy if left to cook until the chicken was done. This turned out to not be the case.
  • ¼ cup shredded gruyere cheese
  • 3 cups broccoli florets
    • I used a large head of broccoli

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and grease 9×13” baking pan with cooking spray.
  2. In a saucepan, bring broth and ½ cup almond milk to a boil.
    1. While waiting for mixture to boil, whisk together ½ cup flour and the remaining milk in a small bowl to make a cream base.
    2. Add mix along with 1 tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp black pepper, ¼ tsp salt, and pinch red pepper flakes into boiling pot.
    3. Whisk until smooth and creamy.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, combine broth mixture with quinoa and 1 cup of water. Pour into prepared baking dish.
  4. Cut chicken length-wise into 2”-thick strips and place on top of quinoa mixture in pan. Add pinch of salt and pepper over chicken then bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
  5. While casserole is baking, steam broccoli about 3-4 minutes, or until just slightly soft – you still want them to be a little crisp so they don’t get soggy once you add them to the casserole.
  6. After casserole has baked for 30 minutes, check to see if chicken is cooked through and the quinoa has puffed out. If either are still undercooked, return casserole to oven for another 5-10 minutes.
  7. Once quinoa and chicken are cooked, stir in steamed broccoli along with ½ cup of water. Top with cheese and bake another 5 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling and the sauce has thickened.
  8. Remove from oven and let it sit for about fifteen minutes before you serve
  9. Enjoy!

I think it was a hit, but I will probably not make it again anytime soon. My expereince with the quinoa was, well, lacking.

Cooking, Personally Speaking

My Delicious Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Katherine
I had a huge batch of roasted chicken breast that I prepped last night. We decided to make a nice casserole for supper tonight and it turned out really well. Now I have come to the conclusion that I need to write things down so that I don’t forget it.

The Casserole Ingredients

  • 15 oz roasted chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
  • 50 g bacon
    • Cooked and crumbled
  • 15.3 oz cauliflower
    • Steamed and crumbled into rice-like pieces
  • 9.5 oz broccoli
    • Steamed and chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 75 g brown mushrooms
    • Diced into equally sized cubes
  • 62 g red onion, diced
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tsp chicken boullion granules
  • 1 tsp xantham gum
    • Xantham gum is a very efficient thickener. A bag of it will last a long time, since you really only need a little bit at a time. If you make the recipe without it make sure that you let the sauce reduce for a little longer, cut the broth back. Honestly it will be runnier without it but will taste the same.
  • 50 g grated parmesan cheese
  • 5 oz grated extra sharp cheddar
  • 35 g butter
  • A pintch of salt and pepper

The Topping Ingredients

  • 30 g butter, melted on the stove top
  • 85 g almond flour
  • 30 g grated parmesan cheese
  • Minced parsley

Oh So Delicious Directions

  1. Steam the cauliflower.
  2. Dice it in the food processor or chop finely until it resembles rice.
  3. Set it aside in a big mixing bowl that you’ll assemble all the ingredients in.
  4. Steam the broccoli and chop into bite size pieces, throw in with cauliflower.
  5. In a medium saucepan, melt 35 grams of butter over medium heat.
    1. Throw in the mushrooms and onions until translucent, then add in the garlic for ~30 sec.
    2. Add the chicken stock, 1 tsp bouillon and sprinkle the xanthum gum in.
    3. Bring to a quick boil, stirring constantly, then reduce heat.
    4. Add heavy whipping cream, parmesan, bacon, and black pepper.
      • This is essentially your “cream of mushroom soup” replacement, so do the majority of your seasoning/time spent on this step.
      • Once the sauce is to your liking, dump the chicken, cheese and sauce in with the broccoli and cauliflower.
  6. Mix everything together and then finish seasoning to taste.
  7. Place mixture into greased 3 qt casserole dish.

Mix the Topping

  1. Melt remaining butter in a small bowl.
  2. Let cool slightly, then mix in almond flour, parmesan and parsley until you have a fine crumb mixture. Sprinkle evenly over casserole.
  3. Bake uncovered in a 350 oven for 30-45 minutes.
    1. Check at 30, then every 5 minutes until top is golden brown and sides are bubbly.
    2. Hit it with the broiler at the end to crisp up the topping for a minute or two.
The whole thing will come out oh so tasty, just make sure that you a quarter of an hour before serving so that everything has a chance to settle together. If you make any improvements I’d love to hear them.