Long-Cooked Broccoli: It's Divine and Versatile

I've always been a broccoli lover, but I find most cooking methods fussy. Woe to the LAZY COOK. Then I discovered this broccoli, which is perfect for the lazy cook.

The first version I made came from a book by Evan Kleiman and Viana LaPlace. I can't remember which book; all are good and worthy of your perusal.

Then I found an even easier method from, to my surprise, Alice Waters. Will I go to h-e-l-l if I admit that I find Waters' public persona rather annoying? Who cares (she certainly doesn't)?

AW's broccoli couldn't be simpler: Chop a bunch of broccoli, trimming woody stems. Heat 1/2 cup olive oil in a pot; add 6 garlic cloves and some red pepper flakes. Stir and add the broccoli and some salt. Add a cup of water and cover. Keep it at a simmer and stir now and then. After an hour or so, it will be a mush. Add a squirt of lemon if you have any around.

This method is so opposed to the health-food broccoli method drummed into us. I love it for that alone.

What to do with it? Stir it into pasta as a sauce. Serve it on bread as a bruschetta topping. The famous restaurateur Nancy Silverton proposes a sandwich: bread, broc, feta, scrambled egg. This is divine too.

So, to give credit to AW.

Not sure where the sandwich is from. Maybe this one?

Let me know if you try this. Take the leap!