Macaroni and Broccoli gratin

My niece love cheese, and I think many children (and many adults) love it too. Esp. me, haha I want to add it into any recipe if I could. 

But I know that eating a lot of something is not a good thing, "balance" is we need to remember. So when I told my niece that I will make Macaroni gratin for her, I think about adding vegetable into it (she doesn't eat enough vegetable in my opinion). The one that I choose is Broccoli, after baking the texture of it will become soft and go along with the macaroni well. Boil it before baking to ensure that it will cook throughly. 
If you don't have a pan that you can put in the oven, make the white sauce and mix it with boiled macaroni and boiled broccoli and pour into an pie pan instead (or any oven safe dish). Serve it hot or warm is the best because the melted cheese is so tempting, hehe. For cheese, you can use any kinds of meltable cheese (as long as you love it, ^^). 

Macaroni and Broccoli gratin

Serve 2 

90g ...................................... Macaroni 
1/2 ....................................... Small onion, finely sliced
90-100g .............................. Broccoli, cut into small florets
1/4tsp .................................. Finely slice garlic
250ml .................................. Milk
100ml .................................. Whipping cream
15g ....................................... Unsalted butter
1 1/2tbsp .............................. Sifted all purpose flour
100g ..................................... Meltable cheese (Mozzarella,  Gruyère, Fontina or whatever you have)
2tbsp ................................. Bread crumbs
........................................... Olive oil
........................................... Nutmeg
........................................... Salt and pepper, to taste  

Preheat the ven to 220C.

Put water into a small saucepan, and bring to boil, sprinkle the salt (about  1/2 tsp) into the water.
Pour the macaroni into the saucepan, and boil until tender (about 1 minute longer than the time on a package instruction).

 Remove the boiled macaroni from the water (don't need to turn off the heat) and put into a bowl, mix with 1tsp of olive oil.

 Put the broccoli into the same saucepan, boil for 2 minutes.
Remove from the water and put in a bowl of cold water.

Put the whipping cream and milk into a microwavable jug, warm it in the microwave for 2 minutes (medium power). Set aside.
Place 22 cm pan over the low heat, put 1 tsp of olive oil into the pan.
When the pan become hot put the onion and garlic into the pan, stir until softened.
After the onion become soft put the butter into the pan. 

After the butter melt, pour the flour into the pan, stir until combine.

Pour the warmed milk mixture into the pan, stir to combine.

Cook until the mixture thicken, stir from time to time.
Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

 Remove from the stovetop, and pour the cooked macaroni and broccoli (drain it from the water before putting into the pan).

Stir until broccoli and macaroni are covered with sauce.
Sprinkle the cheese over the top and sprinkle the bread crumbs over the cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. 
Remove from the oven, and serve.

Macaroni and Broccoli gratin