food to glow

Cauliflower covered in bubbling, boozy rarebit cheese sauce is hard to resist, especially when the cauliflower is given a boost through a simple brining. Enjoy as a side dish, light lunch or supper. Easy cheesy goodness guaranteed!

Cauliflower is at its very best right now. This nutritious vegetable, its milky-hued curds cradled in a cap of pale sweet leaves, is so achingly on-trend I almost feel silly posting such an old-fashioned recipe. Dear old cheesy rarebit sauce, normally a simple bubbling topping for toast, is however made for cauliflower.

Although delicious as a plain mash or roasted, cauliflower adores strong flavours of aged good cheese, nose-stinging English mustard and deep amber ale. I was inspired to pair cauliflower with rarebit following the recent event I attended at Waitrose Cook School, where we had some excellent, simple vegetable dishes alongside the traditional lamb and salmon. Their brown butter cauliflower rarebit was so good I could have happily just eaten this very humble dish. Indeed, rarebit is, according to Felicity Cloake, “a very Sunday-evening, empty fridge type of dish”. As my kitchen is as likely to have a cauliflower as bread these days, this statement is very true for me.

When I got home I set about doing my own version, with a rarebit I whizzed up in my blender, rather than making on the hob as is traditional. Normally I make mine with dark ale, but I also played with using a sharp-sweet English cider – both are good, adding a depth of flavour that can be missing in a standard cheese sauce. You’ll see that I’ve used cute little mini caulis from Waitrose, but this recipe will cover a whole cauliflower, no problem. One mini cauli is great for an individual, cutesy side veg, while two is perfect for a light supper with salad, and garlicky pitta chips to scoop the overflowing sauce.

One thing I don’t like so much about normal cauliflower cheese is that in comparison to the tasty sauce the vegetable itself can get a bit lost in its well-seasoned covering, especially if it is just boiled. It seems to be all about the cheese. To balance things up a bit, for this recipe, I made a simple brine for the cauliflower and left it for a few hours to absorb the flavours as well as soften up. This softening leads to a slightly decreased steaming time, too. Skip the brining if you like, but it really does add extra flavour to the cauliflower. We all remarked on it. Another direction would be to cut and roast the cauliflower as steaks or chunky florets, getting it lightly golden, then smothering in the sauce before popping under a hot grill to get puffed and bubbling.

Cauliflower is ridiculously nutritious, the unique taste signalling the nutritional powers within. It is low in calories and high in fibre, folate, vitamins C and K, and disease-preventing phytochemicals such as glucosinolates, quercetin and kaempferol. A serving of cauli is 80 grams, but a bit more is better. Steaming or roasting keeps most of the nutrients intact. We have cauliflower in one way or another about five times a week. Yep, a bit of a fan.

While not exactly an antidote to yesterday’s chocolate Easter eggs, this easy, cheesy dish certainly delivers on taste. Be sure to put it on your menu this week. 🙂

If you have leftover sauce – or if you make double – try it as it is meant.

**PS: I use my Optimum 9400 Froothie power blender daily for work and home. If you want to make your own flours, nut butters, power balls, smoothies, cocktails, super smooth sauces, purees and soups (and loads more), please use my ambassador link. Includes a 30-day money back guarantee.** 

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