Today, I have with me an extra-talented lady, who will drive you nuts with her bakes. I am talking about none other than Sharanya, or Shey, as everybody likes to call, who blogs at "Just Not the Cakes". Her blog name speaks loud about her love for sweet stuff and seriously, that is one thing why I am hooked onto it for sure! Her cakes and puddings make me drool endlessly and I was so excited when she sent me an email for plugging in a guest post. I was more than happy to take it up from her. Being very truthful to her name that she makes just not cakes, she gave me a dish, which is so new to me. I have heard of Gratin before, however have never had the opportunity to try it, lest my family may just reject it straight away. This is one thing I like about my guest posts - I get recipes for ingredients that I have never featured before on my blog! So there you go, she features in here as the first guest for 2014.
Without much more talking from my side, I will go on to see what Shey has to say...
First of all, thank you so much Rafeeda for
giving me this opportunity to write a guest post in your blog. You are one of
the bloggers whom i admire the most .I used to wonder how on earth you get time
to post recipes every day. This shows how organized and dedicated you are
.Posting recipes twice a week make me think i have done so much of work. Really
appreciate your dedication in blogging. I particularly love the way you explain
the recipes. They are so simple to understand. Last but not the least , the
most important thing I wanted to tell you is know i love your Blog Name -"
The big Sweet Tooth " .
So let me introduce myself, I'm Shey / Sharanya
from JustNotTheCakes . A food blogger from Sri Lanka and currently live
in Georgia, USA. I am a newbie to food blogging, where my blog is not yet a
year old. JustNotTheCakes is where I share all my Tested and Tried recipes.
Most of my recipes are Baked or either pan fried because I don't prefer
anything deep fried. So when I promised Rafee that I’ll do a guest post, I was
pretty sure that it was going to be something baked.
So today I am sharing one of my personal
favorite, simple yet delicious Creamy Cauliflower and Broccoli Gratin. Gratin
is a French Cuisine which is prepared in a shallow dish. It is baked and then
broiled to form a golden crust on top. So let’s see the recipe
Ingredients:
Broccoli - 1 1/2 Cup
Cauliflower - I 1/2 Cup
Salt
Cheddar Cheese - 1 1/4 cup
For
the white sauce:
All Purpose Flour - 1/ 3 Cup
Water - 1/2 Cup
Milk - 1 Cup
Butter - 3 TBLS
Salt
Pepper
Dried Parsley or any Italian Herbs of your
choice.
Instructions:
·
Pre
heat the oven at 350 F.
·
In
a Microwave bowl, add Broccoli, Cauliflower, Water and salt.
·
Cook
it for 10 minutes or till they are 3/4th cooked.
·
Drain
the water. Allow it to cool.
To
make the White Sauce:
·
In
a saucepan melt the butter over medium heat.
·
Add
the flour, pepper, herbs and salt and keep mixing it for couple of minutes.
·
Add
water and milk and keep stirring till the mixture gets thicker.
·
Make
sure there are no lumps forming.
·
Stir
in 1/2 Cup cheese and stir till the cheese melts.
·
Turn
off the heat.
How
to arrange the gratin:
·
In
a casserole dish / baking dish layer Cauliflower and broccoli.
· Pour the white sauce over the Cauliflower and broccoli. Make sure they are coated well with white sauce..
· Sprinkle rest of the cheese on top.
· Bake it for 20 - 30 minutes or till the top turns golden brown.
Notes:
· I make white sauce this way, if you have any other way of making, follow that.
· If you find lumps in white sauce, don’t panic, allow it to cool put it in the mixer and blend it.
· If the white sauce is too thick add some water/milk.
· If it is too watery, cook it for some more time till it gets thicker.
Yes, of course!!! What a question to ask, dear... :) Thank you so much for coming by and gracing my little space with your presence... Hope you all enjoyed the lovely guest post here today... Have a lovely day ahead...