Bogan stuff I love – Vegetables disguised with cheese

I grow and eat a lot of vegetables, so I’m certainly not afraid of them.

I do however occasionally revel in the great bogan tendency to serve them dripping in fat- preferably some form of dairy product. You know the type – potato bake, cauliflower and cheese (they need a good boganised name, too – au gratin is way too posh). On reflection, it seems that most good examples are the white vegetables – a good bogan doesn’t like to remind himself that he is eating vegetables, after all.

But I like to take it a step further and disguise my green vegetables with excessive quantities of dairy products too. Boston Market does a mean creamed spinach that I secretly adore, and I have developed an unhealthy fascination for Jalapeno Poppers – how could jalapeno chillies not be improved by stuffing them with 3 types of cheese, crumbing and deep-frying? Tell me I’m wrong!

This brings me to a treasured family recipe – the ultimate in vegetable subterfuge. A recipe so ingrained in my psyche that I no longer recognise it for the many levels of wrong that it is. I crave this stuff regularly, and beg my mother to make it when we visit. She even makes it as part of Christmas lunch, it is that awesome in my mind.

Don’t doubt, just go with me…

Beans and Sour Cream

450g sliced Green Beans (always frozen, but I used fresh in the pictures)

1 medium Brown Onion, diced

1 300g tub Sour Cream

Salt and Pepper

200g Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

200g Corn Flake Crumbs

40g Butter

Place the beans and the onion in a saucepan and cover with water. Boil until the onion is no longer crunchy and starts to go translucent. Drain thoroughly for at least several minutes.

While beans are draining, melt the butter and add the cornflake crumbs, mixing thoroughly to encorporate the butter through the crumbs.

In a bowl, mix the sour cream through the bean and onion mixture, adding a generous amount of salt and pepper. Pour into a small casserole dish or loaf pan.

Spread the shredded mozzarella cheese over the sour cream, bean and onion mixture, then top with the cornflake crumbs, smoothing the surface.

Either put in the oven at 180 degrees for long enough for the cheese to melt and the crumbing to go crispy, or microwave for approximately 3 minutes. My mum always microwaves it.

The result is a side dish with a crunchy, buttery top, an oosey, cheesy layer underneath and a creamy, beaney layer below. Bogan bliss.

This photo isn’t convincing anyone, is it?

Well there goes any shred of foodie credibility that I probably didn’t have anyway. So what are your shameful food loves? Anything you love when you really shouldn’t, just because you grew up eating it?

Did I mention I love Campbell’s Cream of [INSERT ANY VEGETABLE HERE] soup?

I swear I don’t use it in casseroles!