Cheesy Cauliflower

A friend who reads my blog asked me how I make my cheesy cauliflower dish. I must tell you in advance that the Mister had a bunch of utensils, dishes and pots to wash up after I prepared this.

First I peeled off the leaves, and rinsed the head well. I cored and the cut the head into quarters and then sliced the florets from the main stem. The head cut quite easily. There is some mess though. 

Next, I boiled the florets in water for about 6 minutes. They were drained in colander and held until cheese sauce was ready.

The brick of cheese was grated on the hand-held grater. The clean up was actually easier instead of using the food processor to do this. My cheese was a herb-filled hard brick. I think any hard cheese would do, as well.

In a thick bottomed pan, I melted the butter and stirred in the flour until it was well blended and starting to brown a little. This took about a minute. I then added the milk, a little at a time and stirred it until it thickened - for about 10 minutes. The cheese was then added and more stirring was done until it melted and the sauce was very smooth. A little more milk was added because I wanted it to be a bit thinner. I added salt and pepper and a dash of paprika. 

I put the cauliflower into a throw-away oven pan to save cleanup duties, knowing we would consume it all in one meal. After pouring the cheese cream sauce over the top and making sure all was covered, I popped it into the oven at 300° for about 10 minutes, then turning the oven up to “broil” mode for another 10 minutes. It came out perfect and was a very delicious dish. (I sprinkled a bit more paprika on top before serving.)

INGREDIENTS

8 ounces hard cheese, grated

1 small head cauliflower

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1 pinch salt

1 pinch black pepper

paprika

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