Lundi: Recipes

My older daughter loves to cook, which is to our whole family’s benefit.  She made these delicious muffins and a pan of brownies for Mother’s Day (I’m pretty spoiled) and she has announced her intention to cook dinner once a week during her summer break from school.  Summer starts for both my girls in a short three days – hard for me to believe – so we’re already picking menus.

Fortunately, Brigit has a great cookbook entitled Teens Cook that she received a couple Christmases ago.  The book, written by teenagers Megan and Jill Carle with the help of their mother Judi Carle, is full of great tips and easy to follow recipes that take the guess work and mystery out of everyday cooking.  I can’t recommend it enough.

To give you a taste, if you’ll pardon the pun, of what we have to look forward to in the way of summer meals, here is one of the recipes that we’ve already picked out: Broccoli Cheese Soup.

½ bunch broccoli

3 tbsps butter

3 tbsps flour

4 cups milk

4 slices American cheese

¼ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Salt & pepper to taste

While the recipe recommends blanching the broccoli after cleaning and cutting the stems, then cutting the florets into bite-size pieces, I like to do this part of the cooking in a microwave.  Just clean and cut the broccoli florets, then place them in a single layer in a Pyrex or other microwave safe dish in a single layer.  Add ¼ cup of water, salt the broccoli, cover the dish with plastic wrap and poke 6 to 9 holes in the wrap to vent steam.  Place the dish in your microwave and cook on high 4 minutes.  Turn the dish one half turn and cook another 3 minutes on high.  Set aside.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir in flour.  Cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly until the mixture bubbles.  Add 1 cup of room temperature milk and stir until smooth.  Add the remaining  milk and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Reduce heat to low and add American cheese, stirring until it melts completely.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Reserve 4 broccoli florets for garnish and then stir the rest into the soup. 

This soup can simmer on very low heat while you complete the rest of your meal prep.  To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with cheddar cheese and a piece of broccoli on top.  This recipe serves four.  Bon appetite ~

Header: Helping Herself by Pierre Edouard Frere c 1856 via Old Paint