Dr. Skull's Broccoli and Cheese Casserole

Ingredients:

• 3 Heads of Broccoli/approx. 2 lbs.
• 2 tbs flour
• 2 tbs butter
• 1 Onion
• 4 Garlic Cloves
• 8 oz Gruyere
• 4 cups of heavy cream
• Parmesan Cheese

Pre-heat the oven to 375  degrees F.

(1) Break the broccoli into individual florets. Discard stems and stalks, or save to make soup stock. 

(2) Dice onions and cloves very fine. Shred the Gruyere.

(3) Make a roux with the flour and butter. To do this, melt the butter over a medium and mix the flour into it. Stir and cook until the mixture is blond (light brown). Heat two cups of cream, either in another pan or the microwave until hot but not boiling, and then mix slowly, bit by bit, into the roux. You're trying to avoid lumps here. If you do get lumps, you can save the sauce with an immersion blender or by forcing it through a sieve.

(4) Once the two cups of cream are mixed in, heat the cream/roux sauce to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour into a serving dish large enough to hold two quarts -- a side dish large enough to hold five or six cups, basically. We use a shallow Pyrex dish.

(5) Scatter the onions and garlic into the cream. Scatter the broccoli florets over these. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes. Check at this point to see if the florets have softened. If they have, pull it out. If not, cook for another ten minutes. You want the florets to be fork tender.

(6) Meanwhile, make another roux. Mix in the other two cups of cream in the same way as above. Once that cream is simmering, mix in the shredded Gruyere, stirring until it melts. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

(7) When the broccoli is fork-tender, pull it out and pour the Gruyere sauce over it. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Return to the oven for about ten minutes, long enough to crisp the top. Don't overcook.

(8) If you need to hold the dish while everything else cooks, you can keep it in a warming oven (a toaster oven, for instance) for quite awhile. Or you can eat it now!