Year Two Day One Hundred and Twenty Seven - Cauliflower Cheese

Dear all, 

Wonderful D has been away all week on business *sob*, so I thought I would experiment with a recipe that he wouldn't necessarily normally be partial to... Cauliflower cheese!

I picked up a large head of Cauli from the store and boiled it, in pieces in a pan. I found a recipe on line that I thought looked suitable..not realising in fact that Cauliflower Cheese is a British Stalwart.  http://britishfood.about.com/od/recipeindex/r/caulicheese.htm

Ingredients:

1 Cauliflower

55g Butter

55g Flour

1tsp mustard powder

Large pinch salt

1 pint milk

50g cheddar cheese

pepper

I melted the butter and flour together stirring them constantly. 

I then added the mustard powder and salt, again stirring and stirring wildly. 

I kept stirring and cooking the mixture for around 2/3 minutes and then added all the milk, stirring furiously as I did so. I understand a whisk would have been more suitable but I feel we lost ours when we moved. The wooden spoon seemed to do the trick though. 

I then stirred and stirred until the sauce started to thicken ( and I nearly set off the fire alarm due to overflow..) and then sprinkled in the cheese until it melted. 

The sauce was then ready. I decanted the cauliflower into a baking tin and poured the sauce on top.

I sprinkled cheese on top and popped it in the oven. My first concern was the size of the dish... there was a lot of extra space and the sauce seemed a little 'runny'. But I put these concerns boldly aside and closed the oven door. 

After 30 minutes or so, the sauce was golden and it smelt great. The only problem was that the water from the cauli had oozed out and made the sauce *more* runny... almost too runny some might say. I managed to salvage the cauli from the cheese soup and it actually tasted okay... better luck next time!