Claiming that certain foods are inherently healthy has always been a problem for me. I am working on the idea of creating a diverse diet, or a diet consisting of diverse food groups. If you only eat meat, your diet will be deficient. If you only eat spinach, your diet will be deficient. The same goes for something like pasta. If you eat pasta for no other reason than "filling" space on your plate, that is not very healthy. Something like mac and cheese is a very delicious "cheat meal", but the pasta has no inherent health value (according to me). So I came up with a new idea! (Maybe it is not so original.) Why not substitute the pasta with broccoli? Okay, maybe if we take out the mac and put in broc, the dish should aptly be called broc and cheese and not mac and cheese.

In any case, if you are a fan of broccoli, please give these recipes a try! The first version is baked, whilst the second one is more of a classic mac and cheese style. Please see the recipe and photographs of the method below.

(This photograph was taken with my camera, a Nikon D300. See the comparison below of the same photograph (different angle) but with my iPhone.)

(Here is a comparison of the broccoli head as well.)

(Sorry for the digression! Here is the recipe.)

Recipe

You will need:

• Broccoli heads and stems
• Onions
• Garlic
• Bacon
• Lemon Juice
• White sauce or Mayo
• Lots of cheese

Method

As we are substituting the mac (pasta) with broc(coli), we need pasta size broccoli. I do not think you can buy these size broccoli at stores, so this is a tedious step. Cut the broccoli heads into smallish sizes, and also the stems.

Flash Fry

Briefly, flash fry the onions, broccoli stems, and broccoli heads and add the garlic (and lemon juice if you want to). The idea is to add some color (or to lightly burn) to the broccoli. You do not want to cook them. It is essential that the broccoli stay raw and crisp.

The Sauce (for the baked version)

For the baked version, you can make a mayo-type sauce. I usually add some Mayonaisse, lemon juice, paprika, garlic and I had some leftover white sauce from a previous dish. You can add any sauce you'd like with broccoli.

Layering (for the baked version)

Again for the baked version, layer the different brocs and onions, and add the sauce, then add the cheese. Bake it until the cheese has melted.

For the non-baked classic version

For the classic version, prepare the white sauce in any fashion you like. I like to add lots of cheese to make it creamy and hearty. All of the above steps count the same for the preparations. I also add some crispy bacon bits to the classic version.

And Enjoy!

Now you can hopefully enjoy broccoli. The essence of these dishes is to keep the broccoli as raw as possible. Mushy and overcooked broccoli, like overcooked pasta, is not nice. So please try these recipes!