The cauliflower cheese of my childhood had the florets drowning in a bucketful of cheesey sauce, made with a roux of flour and butter, then milk, then cheese. Yum, and yet — a pain in the arse. Especially when there’s no fresh milk in the house (let’s not talk about the state of what’s in the fridge right now).
So tonight I invented a version with no cheesey sauce:
- good sized knob of butter
- half head of cauliflower, cut into florets
- pepper and salt
- 1 scant cup grated cheese (I used gruyere)
- 1 scant cup breadcrumbs (I tore up 2 slices of stale bread
(You need about equal volumes, but the actual amount doesn’t matter. Enough to cover the cauliflower, is all.)
Toss the cauliflower in the butter, and season with pepper and salt. Bung it in a small casserole dish. Mix the cheese and breadcrumbs and throw them on top of the cauliflower. Bake at an appropriate temperature until done; I put them in a 400F (200ish C?) oven for 20 mins or so, and found that the breadcrumb mix had browned but the cauliflower was still a bit crunchy, so I covered it in foil and put it back in probably for another 20 mins. I dunno, you figure it out, it’s hardly rocket science.
That amount served me for a Friday night dinner (with seconds), along with a glass of plonk. It’s probably 4 small side-servings. A full head of cauliflower would be 6 decent sized sides, I think.
In conclusion: I seriously think this is better than the kind you need to make a roux for.
