Cauliflower, please

I'd intended to do some baking after work yesterday, but while perusing the Pak N Save vege section on my way home, I noticed some cauliflower and decided that cauliflower cheese (p159) would be a more suitable selection for a chilly, drizzly winter evening.


I don't recall ever making cauliflower cheese before. If I thought about it at all, I pictured a shallow dish of cauliflower florets covered in cheese sauce. So it was a bit surprising when I checked the recipe and realised you actually cook the entire head of cauliflower whole.

I trimmed the cauliflower and got it into a saucepan full of water. While that was boiling away, I made the cheese sauce, stirring flour into melted butter, then gradually adding milk. When I had a reasonably thick white sauce, I removed it from the heat and added grated cheese, salt and pepper, and mustard powder.


The cauliflower and sauce were ready at about the same time. I drained the cauli, transferred it into a casserole dish and poured the sauce over. Then, a final sprinkle of cheese and into the oven.

My cauliflower cheese came out appealingly golden, and the full head had softened enough to break easily into pieces as I served it up. I'd chosen quite a small cauliflower, so there was more than enough of that yummy cheesy sauce.


I don't particularly dislike cauliflower, but I don't love it either: it can be a bit bland and tasteless. Well, here's one way of giving it a bit of extra flavour!