Broccoli in cream sauce

I have never ever cooked broccoli in my life.Today was the first time ever and I was amazed at how ridiculously simple it is to cook 'chef level' broccoli in cream sauce.Bachelors, this is about as simple as making an omlette and tastes about 70 times as nice! Lets get started then... Even kitchenphobics ought to try this one out.

Ingredients :

Broccoli - 1 or 2 nos. (even more if you are cooking for more than 3 people)
Butter - 2 large tbsp (or 100 gms)
Milk - About 3 cups
Cream - 2 tbsp (completely optional)
All purpose refined Flour (Maida not atta) - 2 heaped tbsp. approximately
Note: Flour can be replaced with cornstarch to yield equally miraculous results, which is what I did when I realised much to my despair today that I had run out of flour
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Garlic cloves- about 5-6 cloves, peeled and crushed (alternatively use garlic paste)
Oregano - few pinches (It lends the dish that italian flavor)

Method of preparation:

First of all, break broccoli into small florets, about 1.5-2 inches in length, wash them.

In a deep pan, put 6 cups of water and the broccoli florets and set on a high flame to cook.Cover the pan with a light lid.Pressure cookers usually end up overcooking the broccoli (Thats a mistake my mum made while preparing broccoli for the first time)

Cook for around 8-9 minutes.Remember broccoli shouldn't turn 'limp'.It should retain its trademark crispiness atleast a little.After 8-9 minutes remove the broccoli from the flame and drain out the water.

Now heat 2-3 tsp oil and lightly saute some garlic paste in it.Add the cooked broccoli and saute for 1-minute, stirring continuously, so the broccoli doesn't burn or stick

Set the cooked broccoli aside

Method of preparation for the cream sauce

Cream sauce goes well not only with broccoli but several other dishes such as pasta and it is again ridiculously easy to make!

In a saucepan, melt 100 gm salted butter on medium heat.

Add the flour(maida) or cornstarch (whatever you prefer using) in the melted butter , continue stirring.This is to remove the raw taste of flour.Remember to do this on a low to medium flame.Don't let the flour turn brown.

After cooking the flour butter mixture for a minute.Pour in the milk and keep stirring continuously so no lumps are formed.Try to use room temperature milk at this point instead of cold milk.Now that you've added milk , you can turn the flame on high.Let the sauce cook till it achieves an even consistency (it can be anywhere from 3 to 4 minutes, or even more.. your choice) Don't worry if it bubbles, its supposed to do that :)

Add black pepper - 1 teaspoon
Salt - 2 teaspoons
and a few pinches of oregano (and/or other herbs.. cilantro/parsley etc.)
Add the cream (completely optional)

Continue cooking

Now add the cooked broccoli in the sauce...viola, you're good to go! :)


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Tips:
The sauce will be thin while cooking and thicken as it cools.
You can adjust salt to taste, with broccoli its okay to use a little more than usual
You can add precooked pasta alongwith the broccoli to the cream sauce.It'll be a brand new dish!
Serve immidietely, since the sauce tends to thicken as it gets cold.