Cauliflower Cheese

As usual, if M mentions something she likes, I endeavour to make it. Nothing’s too hard when it comes to trying to please my sweetie!

The most recent thing was cauliflower cheese. Before I moved to the UK, I’d had a dish called cauliflower gratin and it was basically cauliflower cooked in a floury sauce. Nothing special, I thought. But I did some research and found that cauliflower cheese is a well-loved dish in the UK, and that it should have a rich, creamy sauce, not one that was mostly flour and breadcrumbs.

The recipes I found all called for milk; I thought I’d make the dish even richer by using half milk and half cream. Frankly, it was too rich for me, although M liked it! Next time, I’d use less cream and more milk (as in the recipe I’ve given below), and I’d break up some of the creaminess by adding mustard. or perhaps some chilli. I might also use half broccoli and half cauliflower, to give the dish some colour.

I served it with the quinoa salad I posted yesterday, and the two dishes were great together, because the quinoa provided a heartier bite amidst all the luscious cream in the cauliflower cheese.

Ingredients:
1 medium cauliflower
50 g butter
¼ cup flour
½ cup cream
2 cups milk
100 g cheddar cheese, or other mature cheese, grated or chopped
1 tsp parsley
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Wash the cauliflower and then boil it for about 10 minutes. Break it into florets.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour. Stir until mixed.
3. Add the milk and cream. Stir.
4. Add most of the cheese and stir until it is a thick sauce.
5. Season with parsley and pepper.
6. Place the cauliflower in one layer at the bottom of an oven-safe dish. Pour the sauce over it.
7. Top with the rest of the cheese.
8. Bake for 30 minutes at 200.