This hearty homemade meal never fails to impress, satiate and brighten your day. If you are still one of the few who haven’t yet turned on your heating, this recipe is a must. Oh, and if you don’t like cauliflower- don’t fret! Try it with leeks or anything else you fancy cheesifying…
Ingredients:
- 25g butter
- 25g flour
- 250g milk
- 1 cauliflower
- Grated Cheddar – this is honestly very subjective. I love it properly cheesy so eye-ball it based on what you prefer, However, for the sake of a followable recipe, start with 50g.
- Salt
- Pepper
- Tsp of smoked garlic- this is optional but I personally think it really adds to it.
Method:
Heat the oven to 200C/ gas 7
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, then add 1large cauliflower, broken into pieces, and cook for about 5 mins – lift out a piece to test that it has been cooked through
Then, drain the cauliflower and tip into an ovenproof dish.
For the white sauce: place a pan on low/ medium heat with the butter and flour in and stir with a wooden spoon. This will form a light brown coloured paste called a roux. Add a splash of milk. The paste should thicken. All the time keep stirring. Add a bit more milk and let it thicken up again.
Do this until you start to notice that it doesn’t thicken as instantly whilst constantly stirring and making sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan. A test for when the sauce is done can be taken by looking at the wooden spoon and tracing a clean finger along the spoon. If the sauce stays set in its way then the sauce is ready – fun act, this test also applies to custards! Note that the white sauce recipe can be doubled to properly coat all the cauliflower, or halved for less and so forth.
Season generously and add most of your cheese and garlic before pouring the white sauce over your cauliflower. Add the remainder of the cheese and bake for about 20 minutes until it starts to bubble.
Enjoy this as a side, a hangover comfort, or as a dinner party show-stopper!
Photographs provided by Molly Mauleverer