One of my favorite ways to make cauliflower. I omit the nutmeg and add a dash of Frank's Hot Sauce and a little dijon mustard. There's never any leftovers--we usually eat the whole casserole dish full. I like to serve this with meatloaf.
I made a couple of changes - instead of baking it for 25 minutes, which seemed a long additional time for hot cooked sauce and hot cooked cauliflower, I drained the veg, poured the sauce over and put under a grill (UK)/broiler (US) for a few minutes until the sauce bubbled and browned. I have also sprinkled it with breadcrumbs before grilling to add a crunch. Great with baked ham or some bacon.
This is an excellent basic recipe to riff on, which really are the best kind. It is flexible, stands up to changes and substitutions. The results are creamy, cheesylicious cauliflower that you might even get your picky eaters to try.
Here are the changes I made, just to give you an idea of what can be done. I had a huge head of cauliflower (purchased for $1 at produce stand) and 3 smallish heads of broccoli veronica. Seemed like I needed more cheese sauce as a result, so I increased the sauce by 1/2 (3 Tbsp Butter, 3 Tbsp flour, 1 and 1/2 c. of milk, etc.) I had only scallions so I chopped up 1 and 1/2 c. of them. I had only 1/2 c. sharp cheddar so I subbed in colbyjack (obviously used more of that as well.) I love nutmeg in my cream sauce so I tripled the pinch of nutmeg and ground some fresh black pepper in there (definitely more than a few pinches.) This recipe is fairly low sodium, a little too low sodium for my tastes so I added about 1/2 tsp sea salt.
So I followed the steps for the white sauce and kept the proportions except for seasoning, followed the cooking instructions including steaming until veggies were tender and baked it off with extra cheese on top. It was beautiful, tasted wonderful, and I got no complaints at all from the 18 year old, 12 year old, 98 year old, hubby or myself.
(Do you know how rare it is to find a recipe they all like? lol, good job Amy W.)
Absolutely loved this. The only change I made was instead of steaming the cauliflower and roasted it with a bit of olive oil until the tips were starting to brown. Added the sauce and cheese and baked as directed. This is the best cauliflower we have ever had. The roasting eliminated any chance of turning watery.
Pretty good although I don't really see the point of baking the cauliflower in the sauce. It ends up getting diluted by the water that comes out of the cauliflower. Much prefer to pour sauce on steamed cauliflower and this has the added advantage of allowing portion control for those who are worried about a high-calorie sauce.
Really easy and delicious. I only made a couple of minor changes. First, I was out of nutmeg so used a pinch of paprika instead. I am a low carb eater, so I used half and half (instead of milk and flour), to hold the dish together. Then added a pinch of salt, since there was none in the recipe, and it was perfect. The onion adds a really nice dimension to the dish. I would not omit it unless you hate onion. Loved this and will make it again soon.
Will be making this recipe shortly, but with only one change - my mom use to gut the tough parts of the cauliflower out and steamed the whole rounded head (probably boiled it in those days)poured the cheese sauce over, a sprinkle of paprika, just before serving - was beautiful and oh, so good!
I baked the dish in the oven WITHOUT steaming the cauliflower first. I don't like mushy veggies. I added broccoli florets too about half a head of cauliflower and almost equal amounts broccoli washed and cut small with no stems. I mixed it all together so that my uncooked veggies wouldn't scorch. Baked about 20 minutes then added french's fried onions to the top until they were crispy. Yummy.
The cauliflower absorbed all of the sauce. It turned out perfect. One head made a full Pyrex dish. Will def. use the sauce again for potatoes and make THIS dish again.
I found this a bit bland. I would make it again but try to give it a bit more flavour maybe some dijon or some bacon bits..
