Campfire Broccoli Cheese Casserole

I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post that I wanted to teach you how to make my delicious broccoli dish over a fire. Hey, maybe you'll end up stranded in the wilderness with some cheese, breadcrumbs and frozen broccoli. Or perhaps you'll want to wow your friends at a backyard barbecue. Or maybe you'll just think, huh, that's cool...and then make it in your oven. Whatever floats your bubble! Just make it. You'll never see broccoli the same again.


Ingredients:

1 lg. onion
2 pkgs. frozen broccoli florets
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 egg
whole milk
1 pound of muenster cheese
garlic powder
onion powder
salt
pepper
seasoned bread crumbs



First, dice up half a large onion.

Get out a large pot and add the onions, frozen broccoli florets, and water. Bring to a boil over the fire or on a propane cookstove. Cook until soft but not mushy.

Place your colander in a bowl on the ground. I'm serious. There's no sink out here people. Then dump your broccoli and onion in and lift the colander to drain.



Choose your cookware. A cast-iron dutch oven works great. But since there were only so many to go around for all of the dishes being prepared, I chose a disposable foil casserole dish. They're so much easier to clean up afterward, too. (Oh, and pretend these onions are mixed in with the broccoli. I promise you can boil them both together.)


Now add a can of cream of mushroom soup. If you have no can opener (like me) you ask the nearest man with a knife to make himself useful and open the can with it.

Save that can! It makes an excellent measuring and mixing cup. Fill it with milk. Add the milk to the broccoli mix.

Still haven't thrown away the can yet, right? Now use it to crack your egg and beat it with a fork (the egg, not the can).




Notice the seasoning dusting the top of the broccoli mix. I add garlic powder, onion powder, and plenty of salt and pepper. And I never do it the same way twice! Measurements are such a downer.



At this point, I realized that my casserole was getting too big for its britches. I decided it would be better off in two foil pans instead of one.


Ahhh. Much better.



Here comes the cheese!

Oh muenster, you make my mouth water. I will not be afraid to use the whole block. (Save a little to sprinkle on top!)




Now, sprinkle on some seasoned bread crumbs and a handful of reserved cheese for that extra oomph.

Okay, now we're ready to bake!

This can be the tricky part. You must have the right kind of fire for "baking" a casserole.

This fire = bad.

This fire = good.

The first fire picture is for flame broiling and for singeing your eyebrows off. However, once it has burned down and developed a lot of glowing hot coals (those little black and white chunks of glowing wood in the bottom of the fire), it will look more like the second fire. This is the key to baking in a campfire. Lots of hot coals, not so much flame. Cover your casserole with heavy-duty foil if you are using the disposable pan like I did. Or, turn over the lid of your dutch oven, knobby side up. Place your casserole on the coals of the fire and add some to the top. This will literally surround it with heat like an oven. Continue to monitor, rotating the dish so it doesn't burn, and switching the coals on top with fresh hot ones. Do this for 45 minutes, give or take.



OH my goodness it's ready! Doesn't that look amazing?

This dish is always a hit, no matter what the occasion. Like, dinner, for example. And don't forget to make two so you can have some the next day, too.