Cheesy vegetable bake

This week, Pilgrims Choice sent me some samples of Pilgrims Choice Crumbles to play with. Here's what they have to say about them:

Created with the best melt in mind, Pilgrims Choice Crumbles are 4mm diced cubes of cheddar, which melt much more evenly, creating delicious dishes in minutes.

With three different varieties available Mature, Mature with Black Pepper and Extra Mature with Breadcrumbs and Herbs, they all have one thing in common; transforming fridge staples into a delicious meal.

 

I decided to try the Mature Cheddar Crumble with Black Pepper first.

Now, I'm a huge fan of cauliflower cheese, but at this time of year there are so many other lovely vegetables about that I thought I'd use some of them, including broad beans from the garden, in a simple mixed vegetable bake.

Cheesy Vegetable bake

about 500g assorted vegetables, prepared - I used a mixture of cauliflower, cut into florets, sliced young carrots, shelled broad beans and green beans cut into 5cm lengths.
500 ml milk
50g plain flour
50g butter or soft margarine
1 pack Pilgrims Choice Mature Cheddar Crumbles with Black Pepper
1 tomato, cut into wedges

preheat the oven to 180 C, gas mark 4

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and drop the veg into it in the order they take to cook - I put the carrots in first, the cauliflower a couple of minutes later, and the broad beans and green beans two minutes after the cauliflower. Cook until all the veg are just tender and drain well, then place in the  bottom of an ovenproof dish.

Place the milk, flour and butter in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring with a whisk, until boiling and thickened. Remove from the heat and  stir in three quarters of the pack of Crumbles, stir until smooth and then pour over the vegetables.

Scatter the remaining Crumbles over the top and arrange the tomato wedges around the edge.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the Crumbles lightly browned.

We served it with a jacket potato, but new potatoes, pasta or some crusty bread to mop up the sauce would have been lovely too.

And what did we think of it? Well, just look at the dish below and you can see for yourself - not a scrap left! Not only did the Crumbles make an everyday dish even simpler, the way they melted into the sauce yet held their shape to make a delicious topping gave extra interest to the dish. The strength of the pepper was just right, enough  for me not to need to add any extra seasoning without overpowering the fresh flavours of the veg.  

You can read more about Pilgrims Choice Crumbles at

>www.facebook.com/PilgrimsChoice

http://www.pilgrimschoice.com/