Friday 5 October 2012

Cauilflower Cheese Bake

This autumnal dish is adapted from The Little Paris Kitchen, a programme I loved and this is the first recipe I've made from the book. Its gluten free but not dairy free, but is definitely tasty and I'm looking forward to playing with different veggie combinations and the lovely bechamel sauce. Rachel Khoo gives the sauce a twist by adding cheese, my own twist is to leave the onion, for extra yumminess.

Makes dinner for 3-4.

The Ingredients 
1.5kg of cauliflower, makes about 1kg of florets 
50g chopped hazelnuts 
1 slice of gluten free bread toasted 

The sauce
30g butter / olive spread
30g gluten free plain flower 
500ml of lactofree milk 
Small onion sliced 
1 bay leaf
Pinch of nutmeg, salt & pepper 
200g grated cheese - whatever you prefer 

The Method 
Toast the bread and let it cool.

Preheat the oven to 180c.
Steam the cauliflower florets for about 15 minutes. 

In the meantime, make the sauce by melting the butter on a medium heat.

Add the flour and stir hard until you have a smooth paste, take it off the heat and leave it to cool for two minutes. 

While off the heat, add the milk gradually, stirring constantly. Put it back on the heat with the onion, bay leaf, salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Leave it to cool until the cauliflower is done. 

Stir 3/4 of the cheese into the sauce, and mix in with the cauliflower. And spoon it into two medium sized pie dishes. 

Crumbly up the toast and sprinkle on top of the cauliflower along with the cheese and the hazelnuts. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes and then 4-5 minutes under the grill for extra crunch. 



It also tastes good cold the next day, if you don't feel like sharing too much of it :)



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