Broccoli Bake

Posted January 26, 2010

This is the ultimate in comfort food. If you were a kid in the 1970s or early 1980s, your mom probably made this dish for you. Picture this: rice, Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup, broccoli, Velveeta and fried onions. Yum! Healthy junk food for dinner!

Seriously, I have such fond memories of this dish. And I've made it in that similar fashion on and off for years. But now I've got a vegan version for you. It is so delicious and really is good for you.

Now, this is one is quite involved. Since everything is from scratch, it's not quick and easy like the traditional version. But this is actually the perfect leftovers combo dish. Serve cream of mushroom soup as a side course one night with some macaroni and cashew cheese sauce. Reserve enough of the soup and cashew cream sauce for the broccoli bake. That way, this dish will take you only about a half hour to prepare.

By the way, the directions I give you here for cream of mushroom soup are simpler than my original recipe. This one is designed to be used as a filler, if you will. And yet, being simpler, kids may like it more. So you can certainly do this one and serve it on its own as soup if you want to cut out the sherry and a few steps from the original recipe.

It took me 40 minutes of active preparation, plus 20-25 minutes for baking, plus few minutes to store the extra soup and sauce, and then a little while to clean up. Of course, I always recommend leaving the cleaning up to someone who didn't cook! You'll cut your kitchen time significantly that way. ;-)

Vegan Broccoli Bake -- prep time: 1 hour 10 min.; makes a big casserole dish full

Ingredients

2 tablespoons coconut oil or canola oil (for mushroom soup)

1 cup onion, diced (for mushroom soup)

12 ounces mushrooms, sliced (for mushroom soup)

1 tablespoon flour (for mushroom soup)

dash of dry vermouth (for mushroom soup)

4 cups vegetable broth (for mushroom soup)

1/2 teaspoon thyme (for mushroom soup)

1/2 teaspoon coriander (for mushroom soup)

1 cup thick cashew cream (for mushroom soup)

1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk of your choice (for cheese sauce)

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup canola oil or melted coconut oil (for cheese sauce)

1 cup thick cashew cream (for cheese sauce)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast (for cheese sauce)

1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt (for cheese sauce)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (for cheese sauce)

white pepper to taste (for cheese sauce)

juice from 1/2 lemon (for cheese sauce)

2 tablespoons miso paste (for cheese sauce)

florets from 4 stalks of broccoli

2 cups of dry rice of your choice

shredded non-dairy cheese

Directions

Start cooking the rice. I do mine in a rice cooker. By the time it's ready, you should be ready with everything else.

Start the steamer for the broccoli. Bring some water to a boil in the bottom of a steamer.

Start making the mushroom soup. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium soup pot. Sauté onions for a few minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté for several more minutes.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon flour over onion/mushroom mixture. Stir well to blend. Pour in dash of vermouth, if using. Slowing pour in vegetable while stirring constantly. Bring to a boil then lower heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, start the cashew cheese sauce. In a small saucepan, combine non-dairy milk, cornstarch and oil. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, until cornstarch is dissolved.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Now steam the broccoli for a few minutes. Since you'll be baking the casserole, the broccoli and rice don't have to be cooked as much as if you were going to eat them on their own.

Now return to the mushroom soup. Turn of heat. Add 1 cup of thick cashew cream to the soup. Use a hand mixer to lightly blend the soup.

Now go back to the cheese sauce. Put 1 cup of thick cashew cream in a food processor. (Did I tell you there would be lots to clean up or what!?!) Add 1/4 cup nutritional yeast, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, salt and white pepper to food processor. Pulse a few times to blend well. With processor running, slowly add milk/cornstarch mixture. Blend a minute or two, until creamy. Add lemon juice and miso paste and blend again.

Alright. Your rice should be done now. The broccoli should have been done a while ago. You want it to be nice and green and still a bit crisp.

In a large casserole dish, dump the rice. Add as much mushroom soup as you'd like. I use 4-5 ladles full.

Place broccoli on top of rice.

Pour as much cheese sauce as you'd like over the broccoli. Honestly, I think it tastes fabulous with a ton of cheese sauce. I added more to my serving on my plate!

Sprinkle the non-dairy cheese on top of it all. You could do some fried onions or some slivered almonds, but I knew that my 3-year-old son wouldn't be wild about those. So I stuck with ricemilk-based cheddar cheese.

Bake for about 20 minutes. You can put the dish under the broiler for just a few minutes at the end to make the top nice and brown. I did not because my kids don't love the brown parts. (Personally, I think they're crazy. The brown parts are the best.)

Phew!

Hopefully, you'll get someone else to clean up the wreckage.