Well it’s a cauliflower cheese … but a supercharged one by Diana Henry which has crunch, texture, silkiness and salty nuggets of blue cheese. She suggests whizzing any leftovers with some chicken stock and milk to make a soup which we did the next day and it was amazing!
Cauliflower, bacon and cashel blue gratin – serves 4 as a side
- 1 large cauliflower, in florets
- 100g bacon lardons
- 50g Cashel blue cheese, broken into small chunks
- 2 tbsp coarse white breadcrumbs
FOR THE CHEESE SAUCE
- 50g butter
- 50g plain flour
- 500ml milk
- 75g mature Cheddar cheese, grated
- 3 tsp English mustard
- a squeeze of lemon juice
Heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
Steam the cauliflower until just tender.
To make the sauce, melt the butter in a heavy saucepan and add the flour. Stir over a low heat for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat, then gradually add the milk, stirring continually until absorbed each time. Return to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring, until thickened. Reduce the heat and simmer for 4 minutes. Stir in the Cheddar and mustard and stir until melted. Add a squeeze of lemon and taste for seasoning – remember the bacon and blue cheese are salty.
Fry the bacon in a dry pan until crispy. Put the cauliflower into a gratin dish, season and sprinkle with the bacon. Pour on the sauce, then dot with the blue cheese and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs. Bake for 20 minutes, or until browned and bubbling.
(Original recipe from Food from Plenty by Diana Henry, Mitchell Beazley, 2010.)
Jono & Jules do food & wine 
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