Broccoli with Horseradish Cheese Sauce

It's only the the middle of April, and in my mind, my garden is lush, green, organized, clean, dripping with ripe red tomatoes, gorgeous eggplant, and tender lettuce leaves in abundance.  My bell peppers are huge, the broccoli hasn't bolted, and there is more than enough spinach to blanch and freeze. The birds are singing, the bees are buzzing, and the sun is shining after just the right amount of warm rain.

In reality, it's about 45 (F) degrees, snow is possible tonight, and my "garden" looks exactly like this:

Yup.  You betcha.  For your viewing enjoyment, I hauled out my seedlings and placed them in the future garden area.

The raised beds did not make it in last fall (ahemTimcoughcough), and now that I am less than 6 weeks away from needing to plant, I'm going to opt for some "lasagna garden" type prep work.  I thought about foregoing any raised beds and just piling ingredients, but Tim located some free pallets (did you know they come in different thicknesses and lengths?  I did not!) so we are hoping to be able to recycle them into the perimeter for the beds, which will be extra nice for the budget. This weekend, if it doesn't snow, we'll be putting in six 8'x4' beds, lining the bottom with lots of newspaper so I don't have to dig up all the sod, piling it full of a manure/peat moss/topsoil combo from a local nursery, mixing in my own household vegetation compost, grass clippings and last fall's chopped leaves, covering it with black plastic, and crossing my fingers until late May.  I have never had a garden bed where I didn't dig the grass out first, so I'm kind of curious to see how it works. Either way, I'll still have about 8 inches of hopefully good dirt on top of the old grass, so that's something, right?

Will keep you posted.

There is another area not in the picture that will be home to a Three Sisters Garden (sweet corn, pie pumpkins, and shell beans), and a plot for potatoes.  In a few weeks we will be having a cedar split rail fence (with wire mesh on the inside) installed, and I'm hoping to try out some grape vines.  The plan is to also have my cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and two kinds of peas climb the fence, too.

Anyway, on to the recipe.  As I said earlier, the broccoli in my gorgeous mental garden hasn't bolted, and is flourishing like mad.  We like to just eat it raw, but cheese just makes everything taste a little bit nicer.  This cheese sauce is spiked with horseradish and garlic for a fun, tangy change of pace.  I prefer to use a steamer basket (I use my pasta pot with the basket/strainer and a cover) for cooking broccoli, but if you don't have one, you can just use a big covered pot with about an inch of water in the bottom.

Broccoli with Horseradish Cheese Sauce
serves 6

• 2 lbs fresh broccoli, cut into florets
• 2 Tbs butter
• 2 Tbs flour
• 1 c milk
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 cup shredded medium or sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 tsp prepared horseradish
• 1/4 tsp salt
• few grinds fresh black pepper

Place 1-2 inches of water into the bottom of a large pot with a steamer basket inserted on top.  Place the broccoli in the basket.  Bring the water to a boil, cover and reduce heat to medium.  Steam the broccoli for about 5 minutes, or until just fork tender.  Remove from heat and vent the cover to prevent further cooking.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add the flour and whisk until bubbly (about 10-20 seconds).

Slowly pour in the milk, whisking constantly. Add the garlic. Continue to whisk until the mixture thickens and just begins to bubble; about 4 minutes.  Add the cheese, horseradish, salt and pepper.  Remove from heat and whisk until the cheese melts.

Give it a taste and adjust salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve cheese sauce over warm broccoli.