This yummy Mac ‘n’ Cauliflower ‘n’ Cheese is a real treat. This takes a fair bit longer to make than my usual week night recipes but it’s worth it!
And it really only takes about 1 hour 10 minutes, with only 30 minutes of actual work.
You could make the cooking time faster by putting it under the grill rather than baking in the oven, but I think it’s so much tastier this way.
Mac ‘n’ Cauliflower ‘n’ Cheese Sauce
The sauce is really key here. There are a few special ingredients that are stirred in at the end to really make it sing.
First of all, you make your white sauce. This is a really traditional way of making it – whisking butter and flour then gradually adding the milk until it thickens.
When that’s done, I add my cheese and three extra ingredients:
Bay leaves – bay leaves are great for adding a really savoury flavour and complement cheese so beautifully.
Mustard – you could use any kind of mustard by I like whole grain mustard in this. It’s quite mild but has a fair kick of vinegar which helps to cut through the richness
Raw Onion – DO NOT COOK YOUR ONION PRIOR TO ADDING! This might seem strange, but seriously, that texture and bite that they bring makes this mac ‘n’ cheese next level. Do give it a try!
This works beautifully as a main dish but you could also have it as a side with some pork chops like here.
Mac ‘n’ Cauliflower ‘n’ Cheese
Save This RecipeIngredients
- 25 g butter
- 25 g plain flour
- 1 pint milk
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsps whole grain mustard
- 300 g macaroni
- 1 cauliflower
- 1 onion
- 200 g cheddar cheese, plus extra for topping, grated
- 1 slice stale bread
Instructions
- Put a large pan of salted water on to boil, and cook the macaroni together with the cauliflower for 10 minutes (make sure you don't overcook – you want them to be a bit al dente when you put the mac 'n' cheese in the oven).
- Pre-heat your oven to about 160C.
- Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour using a whisk. Stir and heat for about a minute, then turn the heat off and gradually add the milk, whisking all the time. If you use a whisk, you'll find it doesn't get lumpy.
- When all of the milk has been added, turn the heat back on low and heat through, whisking all of the time, until the sauce thickens to your liking then turn the heat back off.
- Stir the chopped, raw onion, bay leaves, mustard and grated cheddar cheese into the sauce and season with salt and plenty of black pepper.
- Transfer the cauliflower, macaroni and sauce to an oven proof dish and combine. Top with additional grated cheese (I find that gruyere is very good as a topping) and bread crumbs (rub the stale bread between your palms to create the bread crumbs).
- Pop in the oven for about 40 mins, or until the topping is brown, crispy and bubbling and you can't resist tucking in!
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