Broccoli Cheese Casserole

Yesterday I was enjoying broccoli cheese soup for lunch, and it made me crave the fabulous combination in the form of a casserole. I rarely get to have the Cheddar's version of broccoli cheese casserole, but I didn't want to go through the process of adding rice, so I found this recipe on the site Simply Recipes:

Ingredients

• 2 pounds broccoli, stems removed (can use vegetable peeler to peel, then slice and eat like celery), large florets cut, yielding about 8 cups of broccoli florets
• Salt for blanching water
• 2 strips of thick-cut bacon (about 2 ounces), cut crosswise into 1/4-inch wide strips
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 5 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 to 3 teaspoons of freshly cracked black pepper (1 to 2 teaspoons if using fine ground black pepper)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated

Method

1 Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (1 Tbsp salt for 2 quarts of water). Add the broccoli florets and boil for 3-5 minutes or until just tender enough so that a fork can easily pierce the floret, but still firm. Strain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.

2 While the water in step one is coming to a boil, cook the bacon pieces on medium heat in a frying pan until lightly browned, but not crisp. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess fat. Set aside.

3 Preheat oven to 425°F. Butter a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish. In a bowl, whisk the eggs into the flour, then whisk in the cream and milk. Add the black pepper (more or less to taste), salt, and mustard. Mix in about a third of the cheese.

4 Place the parboiled broccoli florets in the casserole dish, sprinkling about a third of the cheese over the broccoli florets as you lay them down. Sprinkle the bacon pieces over the broccoli. Pour the egg, cream, milk, cheese mixture over the broccoli, moving the broccoli pieces a bit so that the mixture gets into all the nooks and crannies. Sprinkle the casserole with the remaining cheese.

5 Bake for 25-40 minutes, or until set. Once the top has browned, you may want to tent with aluminum foil to keep from burning.

Serves 5 as a main course, 10 as a side.

*****

I did a few things differently, mostly because I'm poor and can't afford to spend a lot of money on specific ingredients for one freakin' dish.

I used 1 1/2 cups milk instead of the 1/2 cup heavy cream. I'm sure it would have made it creamier, but oh well.

Though it may have been cheaper to get fresh broccoli, (I didn't bother looking,) I went with 8 cups of frozen broccoli for the convenience factor.

Added more bacon. Also added crushed crackers on the top.

Verdict? I liked it! I think I should've added more salt and pepper, esp fresh cracked pepper, and also, I think butter would have been good. Maybe next time I'll melt some and stir it into the cheese mixture before it's poured. Annnnd, I think cream cheese would be awesome somewhere in there, maybe dropped in softened dollops. Mmmm, cheese.