Sometimes, when faced with a big white ball of a cauliflower I’m stumped. It’s one of the few vegetables that I can’t think of something to do straight away. Then I remember cauliflower cheese and all is okay with the world again.
Along with spicy curry, this is the best – and certainly most comforting – way to cook cauliflower. If you do it well, thick and cheesy with a bit of bite, then it can be extraordinarily good. A world away from the watery, floury mess I got served at my primary school dinners.
The sauce should ooze. Like an alien invader from a fifties B-movie. Thick, viscous, gloopy, cheesy, intense – you should almost see it breathe. It should coat the cauliflower florettes like a dense covering of algae on undersea coral or something from an alien autopsy.
I know it doesn’t really sound particularly appealing, but that doesn’t matter, because cauliflower cheese is all about comfort not aesthetics. Which is why I like to balance the al dente texture of the florettes with some smooth and floury potatoes. They also add to the hearty aspect of this dish.
The one thing you do need to do is offset the heavy buttery cheesy richness of the sauce. If not, it can smother your taste buds and your mouth can feel a bit like it’s being drowned in velvet. Add something hot or piquant to keep your taste buds dancing rather than letting them get all claggy with dairy heaviness – good though it is.
Cauliflower & potato cheese
Serves 3-4
The secret here is to make sure the sauce is the best you can make. The cauliflower and potato mostly add texture to the oozing cheesy goodness of the sauce, some substance to balance out the buttery richness.
I like to use fondue style cheeses – gruyere or emmental. If I don’t have them, something hard and English, a mega mature Cheddar or a full on double Gloucester, something like that.
To balance the rich nutty creaminess of the cheese I use cayenne for a kick, or Dijon mustard for a piquant edge. Both add another dimension and stop the cheese from overwhelming and deadening your taste buds.
1 cauliflower
6 medium potatoes
200g Emmental, gruyere or other nutty stringy cheese
30g butter
1 heaped tblsp plain flour
1 onion
1 clove garlic
500ml chicken stock
.5 tsp cayenne pepper
nutmeg
black pepper
200ml or so milk or cream
Heat the oven to 170oC
Wash and cut the cauliflower into florets. Steam them for about 5 minutes until al dente. Peel the potatoes and cut them into pieces about the same size as the florets. Then boil until tender – about 12 minutes or so.
Peel and finely slice the onion. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat, making sure it doesn’t burn. Add the onions and cook until soft but not coloured – about 15 minutes or so. Crush and stir the garlic in.
Add the flour and stir it into a thick paste. Add a little of the stock stirring madly, add a little more, then a little more, stirring all the while. The paste should gradually turn into a thick cream, then a heavy sauce.
Once all the chicken stock has been added, pour in 100mls or so of the milk/cream and stir it in. Check the consistency, if you spoon can stand up without help, add a little more milk or cream. Mix in the cayenne pepper.
While the sauce is gradually heating up grate the cheese. Add it a little at a time, stirring to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Bring the sauce to a very slow bubble. Taste, then season with black pepper and nutmeg to taste.
Put all the cauliflower and potato pieces in an oven proof dish so they are packed tightly and pour over the sauce.
It should coat and almost cover the florets and spuds. Put the dish in the oven and back for about 30 minutes, or until the top of the sauce is beginning to brown and bubble.
Serve with something light and green.
Crikey – that sounds beautiful.
Can you make me some for my lunch next week? :p
It does taste pretty good. Just give me plenty of notice next time and I’ll save you some… although it really does wibble and ooze when cold
Interesting variation on a classic recipe – i like the addition of potatoes to this dish, as much as l like cauliflower, I don’t think it is a terribly interesting vegetable on its own. Dr G makes a lovely dish of cauliflower flash fried with bacon, breadcrumbs, onions and parsley, I think it is Delia’s, it has completely changed the way I look at it!! Love it now (with something else!).
@The London Foodie – I’m with you on cauliflower, it really isn’t the most interesting of vegetables, either on the plate or in the mouth. But it does make good ballast. Cauliflower a la Dr G does sound pretty good. I’ll give it a go soon – it’s amazing how stir frying and bacon can lift the dullest of veg.
Cheese oozing like The Blob? There’s a screenplay screaming to be written here. Run for the hills! The Cheese is coming! Arrrgh!
Sorry drunk too much coffee this morning, nice post! ; )
@Food Urchin – “Now little johnny, didn’t I always tell you not to plat with your food!” … “But mum it’s aliv- arrrrgh” *chomp slurp nom nom nom”
Thanks!
I’ve recently reacquainted myself with cauliflower cheese and had forgotten how good it is. The addition here of potatoes, speaking as a total potato head, sounds just perfect.
@Thursday – I agree, there is something deeply and instinctually satisfying about the partnership of cheese and potato – and they really add to the overall texture of the dish. Here’s to spuds!
That sounds amazing! I’ve never thought to use chicken stock to make the sauce for cauliflower cheese, always just used all milk/cream. I imagine it would be a lot less heavy and dairy overload this way, definitely one to try soon!
@Becca Thanks! It does make it both lighter and gives it a little more savoury depth. If you make it, i’d love to hear how it goes.
i am always at a loss when it comes to cauliflower, too! love the recipe. comfort food at its best.
@shayma – I agree, i think anything involving lashings of oozing cheese is definitely comfort food. And this is a good way to solve the cauliflower conundrum.
What a yummy dish, proper happy food! My daughter (21 months) and I loved it! Thank you for sharing!