Cauliflower cheese

Lots of good tips from gransnetters as usual, I have nothing to add. My beef is the overall price and quality of veg we are expected to overlook. £1:19p for a yellow cauliflower no bigger than a jaffa with yellowing limp outer leaves, in our area.
Cauliflower Cheese has been a favourite of ours for years too. I fear for vegetarians due to the poor quality of fresh produce on offer these days it’s been this way for a while now. Is it any wonder they have to resort to the highly processed artificial ‘Plant Based’ products. I’m sick of housewives being treated with contempt via the poor over priced basic foodstuffs on our supermarket shelves. Who would have thought food banks would be the norm in 2024 ! Apologies rant over.

I happened to be in a very nice farm shop the other day, and their fruit and veg looked lovely. They had beautiful cauliflowers, but when I looked at the price, I had to do a double-take - £4.50!

There is a programme on Channel 5 next week about Fresh v Frozen veg where they will probably say frozen is more nutritious than the limp varieties sold in some shops now. I haven’t used frozen cauliflower for the cheese recipe but I probably will with the price of cauliflowers so high.

JaneJudge

lemsip

horrible dish. tried an m&s ready meal of this ,

the ready made ones are not a patch on home made

How true!

i use frozen cauliflower and par cook in microwave and it is always perfect!

I can’t say I’ve found that, Junoesque - I do most of my food shopping in Asda and the cauliflowers are almost always nice and fresh* and reasonably priced.
It may depend to some extent on where you live, though - we’re in outer SW London.
*when they are nice and fresh, I always include the outer green leaves (any that aren’t manky) - such a waste otherwise.

Tesco cauliflower £1.19
Waitrose " " £1.20
Ocado £1.20
Aldi £1.20
Lidl won't be much different.

Steam in electric steamer first.
I might make one on Sunday.

Witzend

I can’t say I’ve found that, Junoesque - I do most of my food shopping in Asda and the cauliflowers are almost always nice and fresh* and reasonably priced.
It may depend to some extent on where you live, though - we’re in outer SW London.
*when they are nice and fresh, I always include the outer green leaves (any that aren’t manky) - such a waste otherwise.

I always check mine but yes, they are usually firm, clean and fresh.
Perhaps we live nearer to cauliflower farms.

I make my cheese sauce with cornflower and milk (like custard) then add the cheese, all done in the microwave. I always drain the culiflower well then leave it to dry out a bit before mixing with the sauce and baking with breadcrumbs and grated chees on top. It always turns out well.

I'm in Oxfordshire and have no difficulty buying perfect quality fresh vegetables. We have a good choice from the street market twice a week, or Sainsbury or Waitrose. Not much difference in price wherever I shop.

missdeke

I make my cheese sauce with cornflower and milk (like custard) then add the cheese, all done in the microwave. I always drain the culiflower well then leave it to dry out a bit before mixing with the sauce and baking with breadcrumbs and grated chees on top. It always turns out well.

TBH I really think the draining well and leaving to steam dry for a little while are key to a non-watery sauce.

It sounds to me as if you boiled the cauliflower longer than you normally do. Could this be the case? Or was the cauliflower sold at reduced rate because it was on the old side?

I cannot make out whether you melt the cheese in the sauce before pouring the sauce over the cauliflower and baking it.

I always do, as I find it gives the dish more taste.

I started to produce watery cauliflower cheese a few years ago. I put the cooked cauliflower in a dry pan over the heat now, to steam off any excess water. I guessed it might be the type of cauliflower just retained more cooking water, for some reason.

Roast cauli florets, leave to cool whilst making sauce (fresh bread, grated garlic, coconut milk, mustard, salt, pepper). Pour all in ovenproof dish, bake. If our AC/GC are round I add cheddar and cream to the sauce, omit garlic.

I don’t have cauliflower for a meal, just as an accompaniment. After it’s cooked to my satisfaction, I toss it in a little coconut oil, and curry powder.

Callistemon213

Tesco cauliflower £1.19
Waitrose " " £1.20
Ocado £1.20
Aldi £1.20
Lidl won't be much different.

Steam in electric steamer first.
I might make one on Sunday.

That’s my experience too! Cauliflowers always look lovely and fresh. Though I did take a grapefruit sized one back to Tesco in the early Spring.

MissInterpreted

I happened to be in a very nice farm shop the other day, and their fruit and veg looked lovely. They had beautiful cauliflowers, but when I looked at the price, I had to do a double-take - £4.50!

And the farmer may well not have had more than a fraction of that, despite having to cope with shortages of pickers, the worst Spring/early summer we have seen for years, (not to mention possibly flooded fields in the winter) increased fuel charges and increased just about everything else.
The era of cheap food is over so I am happy to pay a fair price and happier still,if most of that is not swallowed up by the supermarkets.

Waitrose have an excellent recipe called Gunpowder cauliflower. One of the best vegan recipes I’ve ever tried (no I’m not one, but restrict meat more these days). It seems to freeze well (unlike cauliflower cheese).

It was the farm's own shop - cauliflowers grown on their own land. Yes, I don't mind paying a fair price for good quality produce, but even so, I thought £4.50 for one cauliflower was a bit steep.

I am all for farmers getting a fair price for their produce so I do hope £1.20 per cauliflower means they can cover their production costs, pay themselves a decent wage and make a profit which will be needed in case next year's crop fails.

I like cauliflower to be really soft and the cheese sauce not too thick.I only have the readymade tho, and just add this dish to a roast dinner.Wouldn’t want much of it.

Does anybody else like those beautiful prehistoric looking things called Romanesque? Bright green and like a beautiful shell. I have used those in a cauli cheese and it’s lovely.

Yes, I think the Romanesque brassicas are delicious and that's something (else) I'd rather cook than face the impossible task of Keeping Broccoli Hot....or even tepid....for the table. ☹️

I'm interested to see from GN that Cauliflower cheese seems to have had a great resurgence and is often enjoyed with roasts. Same with Yorkshires which - from my memory and certainly for Southerners - only accompanied roast beef.

Do you mean Romanesco ?
I find it prettier than Broccoli and it is apparently closer to the cauli than to Broccoli.
But despite the popularity of Broccoli especially on pub and carvery (often unimaginative) menus, for me, nothing can beat the delicate flavour of a fresh young cauliflower. .

MissInterpreted

It was the farm's own shop - cauliflowers grown on their own land. Yes, I don't mind paying a fair price for good quality produce, but even so, I thought £4.50 for one cauliflower was a bit steep.

It occurs to me that caulis are not actually in season yet and while can start spotting cauliflower at some farmers' market as early as June, t5e peak season runs September through November.
So perhaps these did cost double to grow and harvest as they were early.
I think supermarkets are very guilty of ignoring seasonal fruit and veg as they can source most things 12 months of the year, flying them in if necessary. The result is that many people are unaware of what is in or out of season.