recipes
DELICIOUS Cauliflower Cheese Sauce
INGREDIENTS
Cauliflower core 1 cauliflower core and stems rough chop 500mL milk ½ cup of water Salt to taste 1 cup (or more!) Cheese (any) Cauliflower leaves chopped fine Splash of lemon or vinegar Roasted Cauliflower florets 1 head cauliflower ¼ cup neutral oil (canola/grapeseed)
RECIPE PREPARATION
1. Place cores and stems and any floret bits (and onion and garlic if you happen to have any around) in a medium-sized pot and pour milk over the top (or Dairy-free substitute ie coconut milk, soy, almond, oat), add water to milk carton to rinse out and pour into the pot, (you want enough liquid to just cover the cauliflower). Add a chef pinch of salt!
2. Turn your burner to medium heat for a gas burner or med-low for an electric burner and let simmer for 30 minutes.
3. While simmering, grate crumbles of your cheese (any cheese you want!! Even slightly dried out cheese). If you are using slightly dried or frozen cheese, add it to the pot at the 20-minute mark, but if you are using fresher cheese, we will add it in the blender later!
4. Around the 30 minute mark, remove a piece of cauliflower core from the pot and place on the cutting board, see if you can squish it with a knife or spoon or spatula to see if it is soft, if it is...woohoo….its ready to blitz...if not keep simmering until it is soft, start in 10-minute increments and repeat the squish test every 10 min.
5. When ready, using a slotted spoon, pour the milk into your container while keeping the cauliflower in the pot. Add the cauliflower to the blender as well as the cheese. Add half of the hot milk to start and a chef pinch of salt.
Place lid on the blender but remove the little plastic piece and instead place a folded up tea towel on top of the blender covering the hole to avoid explosions and a literal hot mess.
Start the blender on low to get it moving and then bring up to high and blitz until smooth. If it is too thick and not getting smooth add more of the milk and repeat.
Reserve excess milk for another use.
6. Pour the sauce into your bowl and scrape the sides with a spatula so you get every last possible scrap of sauce into the bowl. Taste with a spoon and add more salt if needed as well as a splash of lemon or vinegar if needed (not necessary but may balance out the richness).
If desired add your chopped cauliflower leaves to the bowl and mix.
And now you have a lovely cheese sauce made with scraps!! It will last about a week in the fridge. Remember to let it cool all of the way down with the lid off before putting in the fridge or freezer. Enjoy!!!
To reheat, place in a small pot and add about a ¼ cup to ½ cup water or milk and heat slowly on med or med-low so as to not burn the bottom and using a whisk to get the lumps out.
It may split...that's ok, just get it back in the blender for a minute when hot and it will come back together.
If you are using a food mill or ricer, push the cauliflower through your chosen piece of equipment into a large bowl and then add about half of the milk back into the mash, and, mix with a spatula, add more of the milk a little at a time until it is not too thick and not too thin.
SIDE RECIPE
Roasted Cauliflower Florets
1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Cut to 1” pieces and place on a sheet pan, and drizzle with oil (canola/grapeseed/light olive/vegetable/sunflower) and sprinkle with salt and shake it!!
3. Place in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes and turn halfway through to evenly brown. Remove from oven when nicely browned and smells delicious.
Remove from oven and place in a bowl or however you are serving it, and, maybe spoon the cauliflower cheese sauce on top!
Recommended tools:
Blender: https://bit.ly/31b7SWv
Food mill: https://bit.ly/2Z6biXY
Potato ricer: https://bit.ly/2Z4QTCy
Slotted spoon: https://bit.ly/2zWiAFe
Container for excess milk (deli or small container): https://bit.ly/318AIXD
Large bowl: https://bit.ly/2Vdp9dZ
Spatula: https://bit.ly/2zY4rrh
