Saturday, February 5, 2011 Good and Dangerous

This DDelicious casserole was made possible by BYO Breakfast Night!

Hells yeah! Another perk to having your peeps bring ingredients. Leftovers! Oh yeah, baby. I had leftover potatoes, chopped onions and peppers. Someone had brought mushrooms, I still had broccoli, two kinds of cheese. Throw in a little of my culinary education and a casserole is born.

I've mentioned before, in the Corn Flake episode, I never had casserole growing up. Both my parents were immigrants, my dad from Hungary and my mom from England, so casserole wasn't something that got cooked in my house. Pigs feet, head cheese and fish stock. Those things got cooked in my house.

So this is the second casserole I've made. Not sure how cheese sauce fits into my diet. But if I keep doing the Bitty Bop I can keep the calories at bay.

I totally winged this, so the measurements are only comic relief.

A good pour of milk, a couple inches on the bottom of a sauce pan, low heat. On a small plate mush up equalish two-tablespoonish parts of butter and flour with a fork. Don't melt the butter, mush at room temp. But mush completely, like mash mush. Smoosh. Together. Completely.

In another pan sweat some onions in butter and add whateverthehellitis you're gonna add. Precook things like potatoes, the broccoli went in raw. Use your judgement. Remember, it's going to cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes. You don't want to overcook it into a bowl of mush. Season with salt, pepper and whatever your heart desires.

Back to the cheese sauce. Add the mushed up butter/flour mess to the warm milk in the pan. As it melts the milk will thicken. This is much like magic. You may want to call your neighbors over to watch. Once it's a smooth mixture add a couple handfuls of shredded cheese. I used mozzarella and smoked gouda. The smokey flavor, and the veggies, and the cheese sauce...oh my goodness, go with the smoked gouda.

Whisk the sauce into submission and then pour it in the other pan with whateverthehellitis you're putting in your casserole. Stir to get everything covered and then pour into (drum roll please) a casserole dish! Top with seasoned bread crumbs.

Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes.

Let it rest before you serve it. And enjoy!

-HH