Celery au Gratin

DIRECTIONS

• Trim the celery and peel each stalk using potato peeler to remove the tough strings.
• Cut the sticks into ¼” by 2½” chunks.
• Preheat the oven to 355 F.
• Roughly dice the carrot and onions.
• Place these and the herbs in a heatproof casserole.
• Put the celery on top and cover two thirds of it with water.
• Season it.
• Cover this with foil and fit the casserole lid on top of the foil.
• Cook in the oven for one hour.
• Remove the celery to a container, leaving the carrot and onion in the casserole and reduce the liquid to approx 7 fl oz.
• Strain the liquid and reserve it.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan.
• Stir in the flour and cook this mixture for a couple of minutes.
• Next, incorporate the milk and then the cream.
• Cook the sauce until it thickens.
• Stir in the reduced stock and the cheese.
• Cook the sauce for a couple of minutes and season it; it should be the thickness of heavy cream.
• Layer the sauce and the celery in an au gratin dish.
• Scatter the breadcrumbs on top.
• Bake for 40 minutes at 355 F.
• If necessary the surface can be browned under the broiler.