I did not grow up in a casserole-making or eating family so they always seem a little exotic to me in a way that I am sure would be strange to most people. What makes a dish a casserole? Why are there so many of them?
This recipe caught my eye because I had broccoli, leftover rye bread, and gruyere from making the savory French toast (I made this back in June and scheduled this post! These ingredients have not been languishing in my kitchen for months.) and leftover roasted red peppers from something I can’t even remember. This recipe called for all of that. Plus I really like leftover bread recipes. I truly don’t know why.
At first glance, the directions of the recipe looked solid but then when I went to actually make the dish (swapping American cheese slices for cheddar, Swiss for gruyere, and roasted red peppers for pimentos) I realized it took a long time and didn’t quite make sense to me.
Kramer has you toast the bread then soak it in an egg mixture for at least an hour. What point is there to soak the mixture for an hour if not to fully hydrate the bread? Couldn’t you start off with a slice of untoasted fresh-ish rye bread and speed things along? As it turns out, yes you can. Skipping the refrigeration step speeds the whole dish along. It also makes it so you can use a glass Pyrex dish without fear of thermal shock, something I was concerned about because all of my savory baking dishes are Pyrex. Refrigerating something in Pyrex and then putting in a hot oven is never a good idea.
It also means the dish takes about 2/3 as long to bake because you are starting with a mixture that’s closer to room temperature, not cold right out of the fridge.
I also added some spices because it needed it but the mustard was a good start.
Broccoli Casserole
Ingredients
- 10 oz fresh broccoli florets
- 2 jarred roasted red peppers chopped
- 1 small onion sliced into half moons
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon Dijon
- 1 tablespoon Herbs de Provence
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 slices marble rye or regular rye, I like marble better
- 1 cup whole milk or use 2 cups of whole milk and no cream
- ⅓ cup shredded gruyere or gruyere/swiss mix I get mine at Aldi
- ⅓ cup shredded sharp cheddar
Instructions
- In a large pan, sauté the broccoli, peppers, and onion in a little oil until the broccoli is fork-tender and the onion is translucent, about 5-10 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow it to cool for a few minutes until it is closer to room temperature.
- Meanwhile, beat together the eggs, mustard, and spices. Dip 2 slices of the bread in the egg, coating both sides. Place bread side by side in a 8×8-inch baking dish–it should basically cover the whole bottom, it’s okay if it doesn’t quite or if it goes up the sides a bit. Sprinkle the gruyere over the bread in an even layer. Spoon in the broccoli mixture so it evenly covers the bread. Set aside.
- Whisk the cream into the remaining seasoned eggs. Pour over the broccoli mixture. Top with the cheddar. Crumble up the remaining bread over the top. If your bread is really not crumbly (I find rye bread crumbles pretty easily), you could toast it and then run it in the food processor or blender to make crumbs. I didn’t feel the need to do any of that and left it kind of “rustic”.
- Bake the dish until bubbly and fully cooked, about 40 minutes. It is a little hard to tell because the dish stays fairly pale but the middle shouldn’t be jiggly and nothing should look runny. You can stick a knife or toothpick in the middle–it should come out with some melted cheese but you don’t want raw egg or any drips.
- Allow it to sit for a couple of minutes and then scoop or slice it and serve.
This is not the most beautiful food I have ever made but it was tasty. My husband told me “didn’t know what to expect” but liked it. What’s not to like about broccoli, a lot of cheese, and some peppers? I thought the mustard gave the dish a nice subtle flavor and using cheddar and gruyere instead of regular Swiss and American cheese pepped it up quite a bit–those cheeses can hold their own against the more robust rye bread. I probably could have made better bread crumbs but that’s life. I actually kind of like them being a little chunkier, toasting the bread and then making fine bread crumbs would have made them sort of sink into the mixture and disappear while this left them with more of a crouton texture.
Her recipe was a little confusing about the bread in general, she calls for four slices but then has you put all four on the bottom of a 9×9 (not a standard size) pan which I don’t think would even fit, and then crumbling two more slices as crumbs. That’s like half a loaf! I just used two slices for the bottom and then the heels for the crumbs. All in all, would make it again; my version was pretty quick and it is a really hardy side, I just served it with a steak and didn’t bother making any other side dishes.
This recipe was adapted and updated from Lucille Kramer’s Broccoli Casserole in Doorway to Good Eating compiled by Elkhart General Hospital Auxiliary 1979.