Aromatic Cauliflower Cheese
...on Toast!
Well, you can serve it on toast - it's pretty easy to prepare and you could have a meal ready in about half an hour.
Particularly if you have some onion sauce already on hand to quickly turn cheesy.
Well, you can serve it on toast - it's pretty easy to prepare and you could have a meal ready in about half an hour.
Particularly if you have some onion sauce already on hand to quickly turn cheesy.
Aromatic Cauliflower Cheese
side main veg cheese
I wanted to try this method of cooking cauliflower even though I hadn't gathered any pine branches(!),
horseradish or yoghurt whey to make René's version,
and felt like a more substantial dressing than
Salty Plum's anchovy and crème fraîche drizzle,
but I did have some rosemary and onion sauce and some cheese.
So Aromatic Cauliflower Cheese it became.
So Aromatic Cauliflower Cheese it became.
It even goes well enough on toast to make a simple dinner out of.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 medium cauliflower
- a generous chunk (2 oz) butter
- juniper berries, crushed
- half-dozen rosemary sprigs or spruce and juniper branches, if you have some
- bay leaves
- For The Cheese Sauce:
- 3 garlic cloves
- grated cheese
- flour
- herbs rosemary/oregano/thyme
- mustard
- or
- some onion sauce you prepared earlier!
Remove cauliflower leaves and cut off its bottom just above the root.
Find a heavy lidded pot that fits the cauliflower reasonably snugly (or trim it to fit).
Heat the butter to foaming, throw in crushed juniper berries then the cauliflower flat-side down.
Arrange the rosemary sprigs and bay leaves or pine branches if you have some around and on top of the cauliflower, put the lid on and leave to cook on a medium to low heat for 25 to 35 minutes (a smallish cauliflower 25 minutes, a large 30-35 minutes). A knife will easily penetrate right through the cauliflower. The bottom should end up fully caramelised, while the rest is steamed and infused with the herbs.
Carefully remove the cauliflower to a serving dish, discard the pieces of twig and herb leaves, scoop out any big bits of herb and berry from the pan and make a cheese sauce in the pan:
Throw the garlic in the pan with a little extra butter, foam until slight caramelised add any herbs you fancy then cook a couple of tablespoons of flour, and gradually whisk in milk, stock, wine, mustard, cheese and anything else you think will go nicely. Taste and season.
Find a heavy lidded pot that fits the cauliflower reasonably snugly (or trim it to fit).
Heat the butter to foaming, throw in crushed juniper berries then the cauliflower flat-side down.
Arrange the rosemary sprigs and bay leaves or pine branches if you have some around and on top of the cauliflower, put the lid on and leave to cook on a medium to low heat for 25 to 35 minutes (a smallish cauliflower 25 minutes, a large 30-35 minutes). A knife will easily penetrate right through the cauliflower. The bottom should end up fully caramelised, while the rest is steamed and infused with the herbs.
Carefully remove the cauliflower to a serving dish, discard the pieces of twig and herb leaves, scoop out any big bits of herb and berry from the pan and make a cheese sauce in the pan:
Throw the garlic in the pan with a little extra butter, foam until slight caramelised add any herbs you fancy then cook a couple of tablespoons of flour, and gradually whisk in milk, stock, wine, mustard, cheese and anything else you think will go nicely. Taste and season.
Of course if you happen to have some rosemary and onion sauce lying around, then use that - just pour it on the caramelised garlic,
heat it up, adjust thickness and seasoning and add your cheese.
Pour the sauce over the aromatic cauliflower and serve.
Really delicious,
you could try turning the cauliflower half-way through cooking to caramelise the top, and have a go at separating the cooked cauliflower florets to arrange prettily in the sauce, but my cauliflower was so tender I found this difficult.
you could try turning the cauliflower half-way through cooking to caramelise the top, and have a go at separating the cooked cauliflower florets to arrange prettily in the sauce, but my cauliflower was so tender I found this difficult.
Cauliflower and Whey
Cauliflower flavoured with spruce or juniper branches
veg main side
René Redzepi's original aromatic cauliflower flavoured with fir or juniper branches.
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the yoghurt whey:- 2 litres natural yoghurt
For the horseradish cream:- 250g double or whipping cream
- 75g fresh horseradish, finely grated
For the cauliflower:- 1 medium-sized cauliflower
- 50g unsalted butter
- spruce and juniper branches
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- salt
Twenty-four hours in advance, make the yoghurt whey — hang 2 litres of natural yoghurt through muslin for 24 hours.
I extracted 100ml whey from 500ml yoghurt. I think twice this volume would have been sufficient.
Prepare the horseradish cream: finely grate the fresh horseradish, mix into double or whipping cream and leave to infuse overnight.
The next day, slice off the bottom of the cauliflower just above the root. Melt the butter gently in a cast iron pan with a lid. Place the cauliflower, flat-side down, in the butter. Slap the spruce and juniper branches against each other to release aromas. Arrange the branches around and on top of the cauliflower, put the lid on and leave to cook on a medium to low heat for 25 to 35 minutes (a smallish cauliflower 25 minutes, a large 30-35 minutes). My medium cauliflower took a good hour to soften - though perhaps I could have increased the heat. A knife should easily penetrate through the cauliflower. The bottom should end up fully caramelised, while the rest is steamed and infused with the herbs. At the end of cooking, discard the branches, remove the cauliflower from the pot and leave to cool on a plate for 10 minutes. Keep the warm cooking juices left in the bottom of the pot.
Take the yoghurt whey, the thin translucent liquid gathered by hanging yoghurt in muslin. Warm gently in a pan (do not boil), and mix with 2 or 3 tablespoons of the buttery cooking juices from the cauliflower pot. Don't be afraid to use some of the dark caramelised stickiness at the bottom as long as it doesn't taste burnt. Add a teaspoon of fruit vinegar (such as apple cider vinegar) and a sprinkle of salt. Serve around the cauliflower as a warm broth.
To finish the horseradish cream, strain then whip. Serve on the side with the cauliflower. If pressed for time, juice one whole peeled root of horseradish to flavour the cream. This won't yield a lot of juice and only holds flavour for 4-5 hours, but is very, very strong until then.
The next day, slice off the bottom of the cauliflower just above the root. Melt the butter gently in a cast iron pan with a lid. Place the cauliflower, flat-side down, in the butter. Slap the spruce and juniper branches against each other to release aromas. Arrange the branches around and on top of the cauliflower, put the lid on and leave to cook on a medium to low heat for 25 to 35 minutes (a smallish cauliflower 25 minutes, a large 30-35 minutes). My medium cauliflower took a good hour to soften - though perhaps I could have increased the heat. A knife should easily penetrate through the cauliflower. The bottom should end up fully caramelised, while the rest is steamed and infused with the herbs. At the end of cooking, discard the branches, remove the cauliflower from the pot and leave to cool on a plate for 10 minutes. Keep the warm cooking juices left in the bottom of the pot.
Take the yoghurt whey, the thin translucent liquid gathered by hanging yoghurt in muslin. Warm gently in a pan (do not boil), and mix with 2 or 3 tablespoons of the buttery cooking juices from the cauliflower pot. Don't be afraid to use some of the dark caramelised stickiness at the bottom as long as it doesn't taste burnt. Add a teaspoon of fruit vinegar (such as apple cider vinegar) and a sprinkle of salt. Serve around the cauliflower as a warm broth.
To finish the horseradish cream, strain then whip. Serve on the side with the cauliflower. If pressed for time, juice one whole peeled root of horseradish to flavour the cream. This won't yield a lot of juice and only holds flavour for 4-5 hours, but is very, very strong until then.
I made this with a few juniper berries and about half a dozen large rosemary branches rather than spruce.
The cauliflower was very tasty, but I was less impressed with the whey sauce. I thought it was rather insubstantial.
I wonder if it might be possible to make a better sauce using the entire yoghurt?
The cauliflower was very tasty, but I was less impressed with the whey sauce. I thought it was rather insubstantial.
I wonder if it might be possible to make a better sauce using the entire yoghurt?
I tried out whipping melted butter into warmed (not boiled) yoghurt then adding the salt and vinegar, and I thought it worked better.
Pressing the horseradish cream through a sieve and whipping it a little is both easy and very effective at producing a smooth creamy sauce.
I had another other bash at this recipe while camping - and using some kind of fir leaves I pulled off a nearby tree.
I used about a dozen green end branchlets about 6" long, stuffed plenty down the sides of the cauliflower to hold it firmly in the pan,
then laid the rest on top.
The camping stove was pretty hot, and I used a generous pour of olive oil instead of butter, but the result was genuinely fantastic with the bottom of the cauliflower beautifully caramelised without being burnt and the rest of the head tender and fragrant. The juices reduce for a very tasty dressing even without the yoghurt whey. You need to carefully pick all the pine needles off the cauliflower before serving though (they're too hard and spiky to eat).
The camping stove was pretty hot, and I used a generous pour of olive oil instead of butter, but the result was genuinely fantastic with the bottom of the cauliflower beautifully caramelised without being burnt and the rest of the head tender and fragrant. The juices reduce for a very tasty dressing even without the yoghurt whey. You need to carefully pick all the pine needles off the cauliflower before serving though (they're too hard and spiky to eat).