Another Halloween horror, the food edition

[nineveh_uk]

Did you ever look at a saucepan of broccoli and think "What that needs is some cream"? Me neither. And yet my pot of extra-thick double cream from Sainsbury's has a picture on the lid of broccoli covered in what is presumably cream.

I can only imagine that this is an attempt to make extra-thick double cream healthy by association by presenting some sort of "broccoli cheese" dish as one of one's five-a-day. If so, it is a complete failure, and only serves to make cream disgusting by association. I like cream. I like broccoli. I am willing to stand up for the pleasant taste and the health-giving properties of each. But broccoli and cream can only be an abomination.

Comments

[gramarye1971]

I used to (and still do) dip steamed broccoli into the cheese sauce whenever I make it with macaroni cheese, but I can't enjoy it if it's poured over the broccoli itself because it makes everything either gummy (if the cheese cools too fast) or soggy (if the broccoli's too wet). Then again, I'm fairly resigned to the fact that food packets and their suggested-use pictures seldom align with my own preferences.

I'd have thought that a mushroom Stroganoff would be the more logical vegetable-based use for a pot of cream, but perhaps it's harder to make brown lumps in grey sauce look immediately appealing in food advertising.

[antisoppist]

I tried adding broccoli to cauliflower cheese because I like broccoli and I thought it would make it all more interesting and less boringly grey but it didn't work very well. I think I like my broccoli lightly steamed rather than soggy and it doesn't have the right texture to absorb the cheese sauce.

If I had broccoli and cream in some sort of Ready Steady Cook scenario, I would probably make soup but I doubt it would attain advertising standards of photogenic either.

[nineveh_uk]

I love broccoli, but it does have to be cooked for just the right amount of time, i.e. definitely not soggy. Boiled is fine, but carefully.

In RSC I think I would serve a two course meal of broccoli followed by cream.

[nineveh_uk]

Stroganoff would make a lot more sense - or indeed, dump the vegetables and go for strawberries!

Thinking about it I also happily wipe broccoli that is accompanying a cheesy pasta in the sauce, but there are limits.