Mixed Vegetable Cheese Bake

Mixed vegetable cheese bake is a delicious easy recipe using a variety of fresh vegetables, baked in a simple cheese roux sauce. Serve as a main meal or a side dish.

This vegetable cheese bake is a lovely, versatile recipe, using whatever vegetables are in season. Here, we've used a mixture of cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots. As you know, they're pretty much available all year round.

This is often made for Thanksgiving to go with a lovely turkey dinner, or at Christmas or Easter time, when we have baked ham or roast beef.

The recipe itself is very straightforward, it's a case of preparing the vegetables so they're all roughly the same size, and making up a simple cheese sauce, also known as a roux sauce.

For the sauce, you can use any cheese you like, we've used medium cheddar cheese and added a spoonful of grained mustard to enhance the flavor of the cheese. It really does make a difference and you don't actually taste the mustard, it just brings out the flavors in the sauce.

This was inspired by a cheese sauce recipe on our sister site, Lovefoodies, and pairs well with this tender baked chicken breast recipe and our cheesy garlic potatoes recipe. All can be baked in the oven at the same time.

Instructions

• Peel the carrots and cut them into batons.
• Wash the broccoli and cauliflower and cut them into quarters.
• Add the vegetables to a saucepan of boiling water and blanch for 5 - 7 minutes until semi-cooked. The vegetables should be soft enough to poke a knife through but still have a little bite.
• Drain the water and transfer the vegetables to a deep 8 - 9 inch baking dish with enough space to add the sauce.
• Make the cheese sauce by melting the butter in a pan, then add the flour.

• Use a wooden spoon and stir until the butter and flour has combined. It will form a ball. Keep stirring this mix for 1 minute on medium heat. You need to cook the starch. Then remove from the heat.

• Start by adding 3 Tablespoons of the milk. Combine using the spoon, stirring until it is combined. Then add ⅓ of the milk, again, stir until it is combined.

• Keep stirring the mixture, it will take a couple of minutes, and you will get lumps. Don't worry at this stage! The lumps will go, so long as you stir. Use your wooden spoon to make sure none of the flour is stuck in the sides of the pan.

• At this stage, return the pan to medium heat, and add the remaining milk.

• If you have a hand whisk, switch to using it now, and add the mustard and salt and pepper. Continue to stir until the sauce becomes thick and holds to the whisk. It should be a 'coating' consistency.

• Be patient, it will seem like nothing is happening for a while, then suddenly, hey presto! The sauce immediately thickens. Keep stirring!

• When it has thickened, add the grated cheese and stir in well.
  When done, pour the cheese sauce over the vegetables.

• Bake in the oven for 30 - 35 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with your dinner.

Hint: When this comes straight out from the oven it is extremely hot so make sure you let it sit for a few minutes before serving.

Substitutions

• Feel free to use any kind of vegetables you enjoy or are in season. Instead of carrots, broccoli and cauliflower, we have used brussel sprouts, squash, and green beans.
• Frozen Vegetables - You can also use frozen vegetables. Do not defrost them first, just add them to the baking dish frozen, then pour the cheese sauce over and bake.
• Cheese - use any cheese that melts easily, for example, Cheddar, pepper jack, etc
• Mustard - some people don't like mustard. You can omit it from the recipe, however, the mustard does bring out the flavor of the cheese without you being able to taste the mustard. So where possible, do use it! You can use any type of mustard, for example, yellow or French mustard, whole grain etc.

Variations

This is a great recipe for using up any leftover cooked vegetables, for example, after Thanksgiving or Christmas when you've made a roast dinner. Simply put all your vegetables in a large baking dish and add the sauce and bake as per the instructions. You can also add a few different flavors such as

• bacon - chop and fry first before adding
• spices - add a teaspoon of paprika powder of dry chili seeds to the cheese sauce

Storage

You can make this up the day before, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate. The following day, remove from the fridge and bring to room temperature and then bake as per the recipe.

Top tip

When making the cheese sauce, you will have lumps at the start, just make sure you keep stirring and eventually the lumps will go. Don't panic as this is normal when you start combining the milk to the flour.

Recipe Card

Photos by Newbie In The Kitchen and D Vango