Friday 30 August 2013

Cooking: Baked Cheese Broccoli And Hash Brown Casserole / Plate


Amazingly green broccoli
Image from Locky's English Playground
Hello! It's Cooking Friday!!!!

Question: What does this amazingly green broccoli reminds you of? For me, it's definitely the world famous movie -- Hayao Miyazaki's Laputa: Castle In The Sky (天空の城ラピュタ).

Laputa: Castle In The Sky
Image from fanpop.com
The difference is, we can actually eat the broccoli. What can we do with it? The easiest is Baked Cheese Broccoli And Hash Brown Casserole / Plate.

You'll need:
  1. A Casserole / plate
  2. Broccoli
  3. Potatoes / Hash browns
  4. White pasta sauce
  5. Mozzarella Cheese

Hash Brown from IKEA
Image from Locky's English Playground
Since I am using hash brown, I will need to first fry them until they are semi-cooked / golden brown. I got some from IKEA for a try but I didn't like it afterwards. Next time I will return to those which actually looks like hash browns.
Frying Hash Brown
Image from Locky's English Playground
If you are using potatoes, simply boil them, skin them and chop them into small pieces.
Mushroom & Herb Pasta Sauce
Image from Locky's English Playground
Place the hash browns / potatoes on the plate / casserole, then get your white sauce ready. I use this Dolmio Mushroom & Herb Pasta Sauce which is not so salty.

Nicely laid out
Image from Locky's English Playground
Place the broccoli nicely, break then into smaller pieces if necessary.
Image from Locky's English Playground

Image from Locky's English Playground
Pour lots of pasta sauce onto the dish.
Image from Locky's English Playground
Looking good?
President's Mozzarella Cheese
Image from Locky's English Playground
I choose President's Mozzarella because it is the cheapest I can find.
Image from Locky's English Playground
Put the desired amount of mozzarella cheese on it for the meltiness.
Image from Locky's English Playground
For slightly better taste, I added a piece of cheddar.
In the oven
Image from Locky's English Playground
Chuck the whole thing into the oven.
Image from Locky's English Playground
Initially, I set the temperature to 250°C for about 15 minutes, but if you think the cheese hasn't melted, then add a little time accordingly.
Final product
Image from Locky's English Playground
WA LA!!! Where's your plate?

For more recipes, do visit our cooking page.


Vocabulary:
casserole -- (n)  from the French word for "saucepan", is a large, deep dish used both in the oven and as a serving vessel. The word casserole is also used for the food cooked and served in such a vessel, with the cookware itself called a casserole dish or casserole pan. In British English, this type of dish is frequently also called a bake, coinciding with the cooking technique used to cook casseroles.
meltiness -- (n) [U] from melty -- (adj) melting
chuck -- (vb)[T often + adv/prep] informal to throw something carelessly:


Resources:
Castle In The Sky @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_in_the_Sky

Cooking @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/search/label/Cooking/?max-results=6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casserole
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/melty
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/chuck_1?q=chuck