Really Easy Cauliflower Cheese (Cheese Recipes)

Member Name: skittle

Product:	Cheese Recipes
Date:	14/11/07 (4773 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's really easy

Disadvantages: You do still have to do a little work

The lazy woman’s cauliflower cheese.

I don’t know about you but I get those evenings, especially at this time of year, when I just want to eat some good, honest comfort food, but I don’t want to have to spend hours cooking it. In fact, the less preparation time the better, for me. But comfort food from the microwave just isn’t the same… The answer could well be my Really Easy Cauliflower Cheese. Honest!

You will need:

Ingredients:
- Bag of frozen cauliflower and broccoli florets
- Packet of cheese sauce mix
- Bag of grated cheddar, or a block if you’re feeling energetic enough to grate it yourself
- Milk (for the cheese sauce)
- Salt and pepper

Equipment:
- Cooker
- 2 x saucepans
- Wooden spoon
- Ovenproof dish
- Cheese grater (if using a block of cheese)
- Measuring jug
- Baking tray

Cooking Instructions:
1) Turn the oven on to preheat at gas mark 6, 400f or 200c.

2) Take your oven proof dish (I use a reasonably deep one, the kind you’d use for a fruit crumble, this size of dish only needs one packet of cheese sauce) and fill it to about halfway up the sides with the frozen cauliflower and broccoli, or just the cauliflower if you prefer. Once you have the correct amount, turn the frozen veg into a saucepan and cook as per the packet instructions.

3) Meanwhile, make up the cheese sauce as per packet instructions, don’t forget to season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper at this stage, if you like it.

4) Once cooked, leave the sauce to one side and drain the veg, being careful to remove as much water as possible (too much water makes the cheese sauce manky, that's an official term) and then put the drained veg back in the bottom of your ovenproof dish.

5) Cover the cauliflower and/or broccoli evenly with the cheese sauce (some say you should leave both to cool before you do this, but I’ve never bothered) making sure you don’t leave any big chunks of veg sticking out uncovered.

6) Grate as much cheddar on the top as you like

7) Pop your ovenproof dish onto a baking tray, and put it on the middle shelf of the preheated oven. All you need to do now is go relax for 40-45 minutes and come back to a kitchen rich with the smell of melted cheese, and a cauliflower cheese that’s thoroughly cooked, with a golden brown top and a cheese sauce that’s bubbling.

This dish will serve 1 very hungry person as a main meal, or 2 as a main meal with accompaniments.


This is perfect served with a bag of leafy green salad and a sprinkling of bacon bits (the strong, salty flavour goes well with the rich cheese sauce). A generous squirt of tomato ketchup or barbeque sauce also goes well and helps to cut through the blandness of the cauliflower cheese. This makes a good meal on its own, but it’s also great served with chips, as the filling for a jacket potato or as an extra special portion of veg in a roast dinner.

This dish also works really well if you substitute macaroni or another pasta shape for the cauliflower and broccoli, just make up as per the packet instructions.

If you want to make things even easier for yourself, you can make up a batch of the basic mix and store it in the fridge for a day or two. It’ll keep for even longer in the freezer, just get one out to defrost in the morning, then sprinkle grated cheese on top and stick it in the oven when you get home.

Summary: Yum