Easy Cheesy Cauliflower
This vegetarian cauliflower grilled cheese recipe is a very easy one to make. It is a great way of eating cauliflower in a deliciously rich creamy cheese sauce. It is a great accompaniment for a roast dinner or even as a main course on its own.
Before placing in the oven
Cauliflower and kids?
When I was a kid growing up, my Mum had a great list of recipes she used to make to feed us kids. This was one of them and I must say that, as a kid, this was probably my least favourite dish. Even now I am not sure why, but I recall refusing to eat it.
But kids grow up and tastes do change, and now I really enjoy this recipe. I think the problem was that Mum would sometimes serve this up as a main dish. I think it is better suited as a side dish. But if you are vegetarian it is a great main dish.
But it is really quite calorific with all that cheese and very filling.
After taking from the oven
My 10-year-old daughter enjoyed this dish served up as the main course, so maybe it was just me that was fussy. I think people’s tastes are very personal generally, but really how can you actually not love something, anything, served in a thick creamy cheese sauce!!! ☺️
Cauliflower Cheese
Cauliflower cheese, as we call this dish in England, is a traditional English recipe which appears to date back to the 19th century. It is normally made with a nice mature strong cheddar cheese, which gives it that extra bite.
The béchamel sauce gets transformed into a kind of Mornay sauce by adding the cheese. I suppose you could also try Gruyère cheese to make the sauce, but cheddar is really more traditional, as that is what would have been available in England back in the 19th century.
Cauliflower grilled cheese
However, a Mornay sauce with Gruyère is likely to be perhaps more refined in taste. Why not experiment with different types of cheese?
I used a strong Irish cheddar as that is what we can find readily where we live. And it is very comparable to a good English cheddar.
I hope you enjoy making and tasting this dish. Please let me know how you get on in the comments section below!
How to make Cauliflower Cheese
Cauliflower Grilled Cheese
This simple cauliflower cheese recipe is a great side dish to a roast dinner, like at Xmas or Thanksgiving. Easy to prepare and it can cook in the oven with the roast.
Ingredients
- 1 whole cauliflower
- 40g plain all-purpose flour
- 40g salted butter
- 400ml milk
- 140g grated cheddar cheese (mature)
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
- Then, prepare the cauliflower. Cut away the stalk and separate the florets. Then clean them individually. Then boil the cauliflower florets in hot water for about 4 minutes (start timing this from the moment the water starts boiling again after you have added the cauliflower florets to the boiling water.)
- Remove florets from the water and drain before putting into suitable baking dish.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour on medium heat. Then cook for about a minute before adding the milk, bit by bit. Use a whisk to mix and get rid of any lumps. Cook for a few minutes until sauce starts to thicken.
- Then add about 3/4 of the cheese to the sauce, retaining the rest to sprinkle on the top later. Then add the mustard and nutmeg and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour the cheese sauce over the florets and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. The sauce should just about cover the cauliflower completely.
- Place in the oven and cook at 180C for 30 minutes.
Notes
Serve up as a side or even as a main course.
The quantities are probably enough for about 6 people (when serving as a side dish) or 4 people when served as a main course.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 337Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 64mgSodium: 451mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 4gSugar: 8gProtein: 15g
This nutrition information was automatically calculated by Nutritionix, but may not be 100% accurate.