cheetos!

gross. and I could tell just looking at it. not much of a mystery ingredient.

I could tell from the picture that it was Cheetos, and I can say right now that it looks absolutely horrible. It sounds like something a five-year-old would make when given free-reign of the kitchen.

I know it makes me a miserable grump, but I would really question the palate of a chef who thinks cheetos should be eaten at all, let alone on a brocolli gratin. Fake cheese? Not my kind of gourmet.

One of my favorite junk foods!

I think everybody should have a junk food or two and Cheetos do it for me. No reason to screw up perfectly good veggies with them, but once in a while, even on my poverty-level budget, I gotta have a few Cheetos.

It might be good for someone who really hates eating veggies.

As an ardent lover of both cheetos and broccoli, I must protest. Not all great tastes taste great together (pb & tuna, anyone?).

Makes me think of that book, What We Eat When We Eat Alone...

cheetos

cheetos

is the chef a stoned 20-something?

I could go for some cheetos.

I could see crushing them and using them as a topping for a casserole or something (mac and cheese?) I dunno about this, though. Looks to me like the chef's trying to burnish his or her reputation as "edgy" and "unorthodox." Gimmicky, in other words.

Ewww.
I wonder how much they charge for that at a restaurant. Gross.

Oh, cheetos.

I have what I refer to as "the orange food exception" meaning that I try to avoid most junk food but will make an exception for orange things. This is mainly because of my love for cheetos and other cheezy poofs, but this is just bleah. Bleah.

Geez, a lot of food snobs here. Where's your sense of fun? Not all food should be serious. I think it's great that chefs are experimenting with odd and unexpected ingredients with there food. I like sprinkling crushed doritos into my casseroles, heehee.

Eww! Disgusting in a proper dish...

He goes through the whole boil-and-dunk-in-icewater-routine so the broccoli looks perfect and then garnishes it with crisps? I absolutely agree with STH on this. The rest of the recipe is standard fare - what they serve in German schools or kindergartens, only nicer.

I wouldn't knock it until I tried it.

I would knock it before I tried it because I would never try it.

We all have our guilty pleasures. You wanna eat cheatos, (Freudian typo) go ahead and knock yourself out. But if you taking the trouble to cook real, tasty, nourishing food instead of the chemical soup most people are eating, why insert an ingredient like cheetos?
Plus, I think cheetos are gross. Now, doritos, that's my chemical of choice.

Ugh! Why would you ruin perfectly good Cheetos by mixing them with broccoli?! Yuck!

;)

I love the flamin hot cheetos but haven't had them in years.

Ha. Because it said "highly unorthodox" I thought of pork rinds!

I guessed Cheetos! I think this looks awesome and I'll definitely try it once, just for fun.

I was a cheetos junkie in my childhood. I spotted them right away.

It's about time Cheetos made it to haute cuisine.

I agree @Comicgeek. Some people here just need to get off their high horses. SHOCKER someone tried something that you don't think sounds appealing.

Sorry - one of my biggest pet peeves about this site is that it seems the comment sections are full of close-minded snobs.

It is Cheetos, and I have made the recipe, as printed in Saveur. As chef aboard a private yacht, I am always looking for new interesting twists for plate presentations, especially when teenagers are among the guests.

I don't recommend using such large chunks of cheetos, but more finely ground like breadcrumbs. The dish was a hit with the older and younger guests, but I plan on tweaking it a bit the next time I serve it. Perhaps, long, thin roasted sections of broccoli with a light cheeto dusting.

And yes, there will be a next time.

You can sorta tell by the orange hue of the cook's left thumb. Its the same color as the fingerprints on my keyboard.