Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large saucepan for blanching
• •Heavy-bottomed saucepan for the sauce
• •Medium baking dish (about 25cm oval or similar)
• •Wooden spoon and whisk

Instructions

1. 1

   Blanch the broccoli

   Bring a large pan of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Drop in the broccoli florets and cook for two to three minutes, just until they turn vivid green and lose their raw edge but still have proper bite. You want them slightly underdone because they'll cook again in the oven. Drain them well and spread them out on a clean tea towel so they stop cooking and aren't carrying water into the dish. Wet broccoli makes a thin sauce, and nobody wants that.

   Don't throw away the stalks. Peel them, slice them thickly, and blanch them alongside the florets. They're sweeter than the heads and hold their shape beautifully under the sauce.
2. 2

   Make the cheese sauce

   Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium heat. When it foams, add the flour and stir it in with a wooden spoon. Cook the paste for a minute or two, stirring constantly, until it smells biscuity and has lost its raw, floury taste. Now add the milk, a good splash at a time, stirring firmly after each addition. The first few splashes will seize into a thick paste. That's fine. Keep stirring, keep adding milk, and it will loosen into a smooth sauce. Once all the milk is in, let it simmer gently for five minutes or so, stirring often, until it coats the back of the spoon and feels like something with body to it.

   If the sauce goes lumpy, don't panic. Take it off the heat and beat it hard with a whisk. It will come back. A cheese sauce is more forgiving than people give it credit for.
3. 3

   Season and add the cheese

   Take the pan off the heat. Stir in about two thirds of the grated Cheddar, saving the rest for the top. The residual heat will melt the cheese into the sauce. Add the mustard, a good grating of nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper. Taste it. The sauce should be savoury and sharp, with a warmth from the mustard and nutmeg that sits behind the cheese. If it tastes bland, it needs more salt. If it tastes rich but flat, it needs more mustard. Season and taste. Then taste again.

4. 4

   Assemble the dish

   Set the oven to 200C/180C fan. Lay the blanched broccoli in a single layer in a baking dish, something that fits them fairly snugly so the sauce doesn't spread too thin. Pour the cheese sauce over the top, letting it run between the florets and settle into the gaps. Give the dish a gentle shake to level things out. Scatter the remaining cheese over the top.

5. 5

   Bake until golden

   Bake for fifteen to twenty minutes. You're looking for the sauce to be bubbling properly around the edges and the top to have gone golden and blistered in patches, with darker spots where the cheese has caught the heat. The broccoli tips poking through the sauce should be lightly crisped. Let it sit for a couple of minutes out of the oven before you serve. The sauce will thicken slightly as it rests, which is what you want.

Chef Tips

• •The cheese is the whole thing. Use a strong, mature Cheddar that actually tastes of something. A block from a proper cheesemonger will outperform anything pre-grated in a bag. If you can find a West Country Cheddar with some real bite to it, so much the better.
• •English mustard in the sauce isn't optional. You won't taste mustard in the finished dish, but you'll taste its absence if you leave it out. It sharpens the cheese and stops the sauce from feeling heavy. A teaspoon is a starting point. Add more if your cheese is mild.
• •Don't over-blanch the broccoli. It should still be slightly firm, even resistant, when you drain it. It has another twenty minutes in a hot oven. Broccoli that goes in soft comes out grey and sad, and no amount of cheese sauce will rescue it.
• •This is a side dish, but I've eaten it as a main with nothing more than good bread and butter on a cold evening. I'd do it again. Your kitchen, your rules.

Advance Preparation

• •The cheese sauce can be made a day ahead and refrigerated. Press a piece of cling film directly onto the surface to stop a skin forming. Reheat gently, stirring, before pouring over the broccoli.
• •You can assemble the whole dish, unbaked, up to a few hours ahead and keep it covered in the fridge. Add five minutes to the baking time if it goes into the oven cold.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 275g)