Cauliflower cheese

Unfortunately I haven't got a good picture of our fabulous CAULIFLOWER CHEESE recipe ...yet, but I'll be making this next week. In any case, the dish is not the most photogenic…. As a temporary measure, I've found this lovely (unusual for our area) snowy winter scene from January last year, which is the view from our front window.
Cauliflower cheese is a great dish which you can make the day before and forget about. It can be eaten on its own or accompany lots of dishes.
At around 830 calories for the whole dish this will serve up to eight people. It's delicious and creamy - but without cream - and will add just over 100 calories to your Christmas dinner.  We love this 'no cream' version:

CAULIFLOWER CHEESE

Ingredients

600g cauliflower

30g plain flour

30g butter

350mls milk (half whole - half semi)

Grated nutmeg - pinch of

1 tbsp dijon mustard

salt/pepper

50g-70g mixed strong cheddar / parmesan

1 whole onion studded with a few cloves (if you have any)

bay leaf (if you have one)

paprika for the garnish

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Melt the butter in a pan and add the flour.  Stir these two together for 1-2 mins.  

REMOVE from the heat and allow to cool slightly.  

Slowly add COLD milk.  

Season with salt/pepper, add the mustard and nutmeg then stir.

Add bayleaf and whole onion.

Simmer the mixture for around 5 mins but keep stirring until sauce thickens.  

Once thickened, remove the onion and bayleaf then add 2/3rds of the cheese and give it a good stir.  

Add up to around 50ml extra milk if it looks too thick.  It will thicken up more as it cools, but remember it will be heated up again later, so don't add too much extra milk.

Meanwhile, par boil the cauliflower florettes for around 5 mins.  Drain and place in a lightly greased dish.

Put the cauliflower in the dish and pour over the cheese sauce.  

Sprinkle over the remaining grated cheese (this will help stop a skin forming).  

Scatter a little paprika on top just to give it some colour.  

Cover with cling film and put away until ready to cook.

Remove cling film and cover with foil.  Cook for around 45 mins, in a hot oven at around 180C, removing the foil for the last 10 mins or so.
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