I've been heavily into my veges lately. I don't know if it's my body subtly trying to rid itself of a little winter coat or just that they're so delicious at the moment. Ricotta is another thing I can't get enough of ever since I realised I wasn't actually allergic to it. This recipe combines the two and tastes juts like my creamy potato bake but is in fact really low in calories and it seems like you're having an enormous meal. I'm going to trial making potato bake this way too.
There aren't too many ingredients in this dish but it's full of flavour.
Start by steaming the broccoli until it starts to soften. You can do this using a steamer basket on the stove or do as I did and throw it all in a rice cooker with a tiny bit of water and microwave it for 2 ½ minutes.
Pour all but ¼ of a cup of the milk into a saucepan and set it aside. To the remaining ¼ of a cup, add the corn flour and stir it until it is dissolved.
Heat the saucepan of milk on the stove and bring it to the boil.
When it starts to boil, whisk in the cornflour and milk mixture and continue to heat it, whisking until it starts to thicken. It takes about a minute.
Take the saucepan off the stove and stir in the ricotta, nutmeg and garlic and season it with salt and pepper.
Spread the broccoli and zuccini on the bottom of a baking dish. Mine was about 30 x 20 cm
Pour the ricotta mixture over the top of the veges and shuffle them around a bit so they are all coated.
Sprinkle the grated parmesan over the top of the vegetables. Bake the veges at 200C fan-forced for about 25-30 minutes or until the cheese on top is golden.
Serve the bake piping hot with a simple green salad. Enjoy!
I've been doing a little bit of extra writing for the On The Menu blog. I just wrote about a great recipe for haloumi stuffed capsicum.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 300 g 11oz broccoli, cut into small florets (cut the stem up too)
- 2 x 150g 5oz zucchini, coarsely chopped
- 3 teaspoon 15g cornflour
- 250 ml 1 cup low-fat milk
- 125 g 4.5oz) fat-reduced ricotta
- pinch of ground nutmeg
- salt and pepper to season
- 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
- 2 tablespoon 40g grated parmesan
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 200C(392F) fan-forced.
- Steam the broccoli until it softens either using the microwave or in a steamer basket on the stove.
- Pour all but ¼ of a cup of the milk into a saucepan and set it aside.
- Add the corn flour the ¼ of a cup of milk and stir it until the flour has dissolved.
- Heat the saucepan of milk on the stove until it starts to boil then whisk in the cornflour mixture. Continue to heat the mixture, whisking until it thickens. It take about 1 minute.
- Stir the ricotta, nutmeg and garlic into the pan and season it with salt and pepper.
- Spread the vegetables over the bottom of the baking dish in a single layer then pour the ricotta mixture over the top.
- Sprinkle the parmesan over the top of the vegetables.
- Bake the veges for 25-30 minutes or until the parmesan turns golden.
- Serve it with a green salad.
Inspired2cook says
Looks delicious! I love broccoli!!!
Claire says
Me too. I eat the stem as well since I discovered if you peel it and chop it up it tastes delicious.
Steff says
I love your blog....and I discovered haloumi and ricotta for me too ;) Will make your vege bake tomorrow! Thanks for the idea!
Claire says
Thank you! They're delicious aren't they?!
Nic@diningwithastud says
I know what you mean about the veg. We've been flying through it lately. Congrats on your One The Menu post :)
Claire says
I wonder why that is. Thank you!
Erin @ she cooks, she gardens says
Yum, this sounds great! I love finding ways to enjoy this kind of thing without eating a kilo of fat. The haloumi stuffed caps sound delish too. :)
Claire says
It's great. It means you can make them more often.
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says
Me too! I think I've eaten so much slow cooked meat over Winter that I probably have enough to last me into a couple of months of Spring! :P So these recipes are definitely welcome!
Claire says
Yes if only we were like camels and could actually survive on the food we stored away!