Broccoli, Prosciutto, and Cheese Casserole

I have been on a prosciutto kick lately, and tonight I put this together when I was originally craving a broccoli cheese casserole, but then I realized that I still had prosciutto leftover and I had to have it!
What I loved about this is that it's so easy that I was sitting there feeling like I was forgetting something... I mean, no seasoning, 1 casserole dish and one little sauce pot, basic ingredients... um, shouldn't I be doing something? Nope. I spent about 90% of the time start to finish hovering by the oven feeling guilty about the oven doing all the work.  Don't worry, if you really want to you can make your cheese sauce from scratch so you have something to fiddle with.



Ingredients:

• 2 heads of broccoli
• 10 strips prosciutto
• 1 1/2 cups warm cheese sauce, such as store-bought Alfredo or homemade  (recipe below)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a casserole dish with foil and lightly grease it. 
2. Roughly chop the broccoli heads apart, so everything is around 1" pieces. Make use of the stalks, too! Chop off only a 1/4" at the bottom, then chop the stalks like the rest of the pieces. Place the broccoli in the casserole dish and cover with foil. Bake for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, roughly chop the prosciutto to the desired size (I like penny-sized pieces!) and set aside until broccoli is done. 
4. Remove the broccoli dish from the oven and remove the foil on top. Sprinkle the prosciutto over the casserole, then bake in the top third of the oven for 10 minutes (*If you are making your own cheese sauce, now is the time to do it!*). 
5.  Remove the casserole dish from the oven, then pour the cheese sauce over the top of the broccoli and prosciutto casserole, mix, then serve hot!

Enjoy! This would also be good as a topping for pasta, spooned onto slices of garlic toasts, or you can do what I did and eat it straight from the bowl!




Basic Cheese Sauce:

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (go for the cheddar, baby!)

Directions:

1. Heat a small saucepan to medium heat. Add the butter, and once it is completely melted and just starting to bubble, whisk in the flour. Let this roux cook for 2-3 minutes, whisking occasionally, then slowly pour in the milk whisking continuously. Once the lumps are gone, add the cheese and keep on whisking for about 2 more minutes. Once the sauce has thickened to your liking, you're good to go! Pour it over macaroni for homemade mac 'n cheese, add it to steamed veggies, or use it in this recipe over and over and over. 

*I like to make a big batch of this and keep it in a large jar for about a week, so I can have homemade cheese sauce on hand!