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Cauliflower cheese

(171 Posts)
Anja Wed 13-Feb-19 08:31:39

When my SiL came to pick the grandchildren up after work yesterday he asked conversationally (he’s chatty like that)

‘What are you having for tea?’

I said ‘Cauliflower and broccoli cheese’.

He wanted to know what we were having with it and was surprised when I said that was the meal, nothing else.

We always as children in Scotland just had this as a complete meal (well not the broccoli ? I don’t think it had been invented in the 1950s).

Do others find it odd that there was nothing being served with it?

MissAdventure Wed 13-Feb-19 22:38:13

Its one of my favourite things to eat.
I like it so much I actually made it a couple of weeks ago!
My sauce was a bit stodgy, but it wasn't bad for a first attempt. smile

Menopaws Wed 13-Feb-19 22:16:57

Yup we had it as a main dish, mum would put thin sliced tomato through it but when offered to my then nearly husband he was horrified that it was the main meal and still chastises me to this day. I love it

Missiseff Wed 13-Feb-19 22:06:46

Never had it, sounds disgusting!

Septimia Wed 13-Feb-19 21:17:25

Main meal for us. I saw a TV chef suggest wrapping the cauliflower in pastry. So I cut the cauliflower into chunks and wrap it in thin shortcrust pastry and cook it in the oven. The cauliflower keeps its flavour much better this way. I make a nice thick cheese sauce and serve it with bacon and baked beans. All very tasty but not exactly slimming !

M0nica Wed 13-Feb-19 21:16:33

Phoenix*, not so much my mother as my grandmother. I loved her Wednesday dinner, baked beans, boiled floury potatoes and onion cooked long and slow until they caramelised and then cooked in rich gravy, tasty and more-ish.

It wasn't until long after she died and I was an adult that I realised that this was an economy mid-week meal.

phoenix Wed 13-Feb-19 21:04:22

My mother (a single mother) would sometimes do cauliflower cheese and chips for our evening meal. I loved it, only realised years later that it was one of the meals she made when money was extra short!

Theoddbird Wed 13-Feb-19 20:55:19

The way we eat food now is very different to when we were young. I have been veggie for near on 40 years and vegan for nearly 6 months. Using vegan cheese this dish is fine foe me as as lunch or evening meal. Why do people have this attitude that certain things have to go together. Today it is anything goes. Enjoy the flavours of different foods. Do not get stuck in old traditions....move on and experiment...enjoy your food.

Busset135 Wed 13-Feb-19 20:52:39

Both, sometimes a side dish other times the main

Dana6789 Wed 13-Feb-19 20:49:19

Cauliflower cheese with pasta is a favourite in our house. Lots of grated cheese on top with pumpkin seeds then popped under the grill makes it lovely and crispy!

GabriellaG54 Wed 13-Feb-19 20:23:28

I like cauliflower cheese with a well baked potato and a bit of mustard powder in the cheese sauce.

Lilylilo Wed 13-Feb-19 20:03:36

Essex here, my father would have been horrified to be served this as a main dish........so he never was and therefore neither were we!

varian Wed 13-Feb-19 20:00:08

Cauliflower, with and equal amount of pasta and sometimes leek, onion or celery all in a garlicky cheese sauce in a large shallow dish with a topping of grated cheese. Down the centre a row of halved cherry tomatoes or black olives. On one half scatter some bacon pieces (for my OH) and on the other a few anchovies (for me). Bake till sizzling.

Iam64 Wed 13-Feb-19 19:51:49

We add cauliflower to Mac cheese - sometimes add canned tuna - fabulous

BStP Wed 13-Feb-19 19:07:57

We love it mixed with pasta and topped with breadcrumbs then baked in the oven

glammagran Wed 13-Feb-19 18:59:07

Love cauliflower cheese. Main meal for us with a baked potato. Agree - must use strong cheddar. I also add English mustard to the roux and add sliced tomatoes and some breadcrumbs with the cheese on top and then under the grill. Would be very tempted to add crispy bacon but then it would not be one of our 2-3 a week vegetarian meals.

georgia101 Wed 13-Feb-19 18:45:56

We just have it as a main dish, with bread to soak up the sauce - can't waste that, it's delicious!

M0nica Wed 13-Feb-19 18:13:20

A main dish in my family. My mother used to make cheeses potato pie, just the same but with potato instead of cauliflower, again that too was a main dish.

We have it regularly for supper. Sometimes I add a rasher of bacon to it, or put some sliced tomato in it, but it still remains the substance of the meal

Nannylovesshopping Wed 13-Feb-19 18:09:07

I can’t believe 127 posts about cauliflower cheese, ye gods!

Grannyboots1 Wed 13-Feb-19 18:00:35

My mother served it as a main meal, always with piles of buttered toast. I have tried to replicate it but it's never as good as mothers.

Soniah Wed 13-Feb-19 17:44:07

I serve it which lightly cooked chopped leeks, mushrooms and peppers and a jacket potato

Reader56 Wed 13-Feb-19 17:09:23

Oh forgot, always have it by itself, far too filling with anything else.

Reader56 Wed 13-Feb-19 17:07:29

Cheese sauce makes anything wonderful! Need good strong cheese and a little mustard, a bit of the veg water if the sauce is a bit too thick...yummy! Love it with broccoli too, also it’s great with hard boiled eggs. Only problem is it’s rather calorific ?

hallgreenmiss Wed 13-Feb-19 17:04:05

I make it as a main meal, usually when there's a lump of past its best cheese lurking at the back of the fridge. I fry up some bacon, (smoked), and mushrooms for the cheese sauce. I bake it in a moderately hot oven to crisp and brown the cheese topping.

Saggi Wed 13-Feb-19 16:46:18

Side dish served with meat and potatoes usually..... but my mother served it up for after school tea sometimes with bit of boiled gammon or fried bacon She was from north though so perhaps a northern thing.

weenanni59 Wed 13-Feb-19 16:41:13

I have always had it as a main dish and it was often served as the vegetarian main option in my work canteen .
I love it ?