Sharp Cheddar Cauliflower Bake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s Cauliflower Cheese.
This season I decided to try to get over my not-so-friendly attitude towards cauliflower. I grew up with a last name that sounds very similar to broccoli, so that’s the name kids teased me with. To add insult to injury, broccoli and cauliflower both gave me cramps and gas when I ate them. It didn’t seem to matter if I tried them raw or cooked, the stomach ache that ensued was a total turnoff. So I’ve spent most of my life avoiding these nutritious brassicas, feeling guilty as a vegetable-lover that I wasn’t partaking in all the health benefits of these giant dense clouds of goodness. I mean, they are beautiful, even if I don’t like to eat them. Or smell them, honestly.
But after suffering with a seasonal cold over the weekend, I headed out to one of the many farmers markets Kitsap County boasts, thinking the end of September would mean a bountiful selection of just the right kinds of nutritious and healing fruits and vegetables that would get me and my family back to better.
Unfortunately, the most beautiful specimen caught my attention. Of course. It just had to be one of my old nemeses, cauliflower.
I looked for something else—anything else!—but the pickings were surprisingly thin that day, and these heads were the largest I’ve ever seasoned, glorious and gigantic, looking so fresh and creamy. The leaves that encased them were bright green, and thick like a baby blanket. You’d think the farmer had marketed it as a CauliflowerKids and issued a birth certificate, the way I walked out of there cuddling it like a newborn.
At home it weighed in at four pounds. So I decided to split it and try two new recipes: This one is for an English recipe adapted by Smitten Kitchen, and I liked the idea of using the intensity of sharp cheddar to balance out the aroma of the cauliflower. It paired nicely with a boiled Italian sausage. For the remainder I tried this garlic chili pasta recipe that I highly recommend. https://minimalistbaker.com/garlic-chili-pasta-with-roasted-cauliflower/)
One final push to face cauliflower head on, was the fact that my cold was still lingering and I’d just read a surprising report about the incredible amount of vitamin C in a single serving of this dense cloudy veg: “One serving of cauliflower can provide the entire daily requirement of Vitamin C and is also an excellent source of folic acid and dietary fiber” (Green, 2006, p.161).
And steaming, it turns out, is the best way to cook vegetables to retain the most vitamins and minerals possible, so that’s why I sought out a recipe highlighting steaming as a cooking method (in addition to baking, but only to the point of melting cheese). Research shows that broccoli, a close relative of cauliflower, was found to lose less than 15% of its vitamin C content when steamed (Zeng, 2013). In turnips, another brassica vegetable, a study found that steaming was best, with the highest retention of vitamin C, glucosinolates and phenolic compounds (Francisco 2010), known for fighting cancer and reducing inflammation (Kapusta-Duch, 2012).
A note on storage: It’s best to keep the leaves on when storing cauliflower. “Curds harvested when fully mature and those stored with their leaves on contained more vitamin C than those harvested when immature or with the leaves removed before storage.” (Fritz, 1979, p. 275)
So this recipe was the perfect choice for this cauliflower nay-sayer. It completely won me over with deliciousness—without cooking away all the nutrition offered by this natural beauty. The result was a dish full of flavor and the best texture combination: cooked this way, the cauliflower still has a slight crunch under the rich and creamy sauce.
Not only was this recipe a big hit with my family and a perfect side to any autumn meal, but I actually enjoyed it myself. (I took longer to chew more mindfully than I ever did as a kid, and I think that helps in the digestion of notoriously gassy vegetables, so I highly recommend that trick to anyone who can relate to this post.)
Another reminder to never let the past hold you back from trying something again with an open mind!
Sharp Cheddar Cauliflower Bake
Serves 4 as a side dish.
Cooking time: 50 minutes (20 min. prep / 30 min. cook)
Ingredients:
Cauliflower - Approx 2 lbs (note1)
Unsalted butter - 4 tablespoons
All-purpose flour - 4 tablespoons
Mustard powder - 2 teaspoons
Cayenne power - Pinch
Fresh-ground black pepper
Whole milk - 2 cups
Sharp cheddar, grated (white cheddar makes a more beautiful dish) - Approx 2 lbs
Chopped flat-leaf parsley, chives, or a mixture (optional)
Directions:
Cook cauliflower: Remove leaves and break cauliflower into similar-sized pieces (note2)(note3), and soak or rinse (note4). Steam for 10 minutes (note5). Spread onto a towel to steam off and wick away moisture.
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, don’t let it burn. With a whisk, slowly stir in flour, stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes to cook out the taste of the flour. Add mustard powder, pinch of cayenne, and a few grinds of fresh black pepper. Pour in milk in a steady stream, using whisk to stir constantly and remove all lumps. Bring to a simmer to thicken. Season with salt (note6). Add grated cheese, one handful at a time, stirring with a spoon instead of the whisk. Melt cheese down as much as possible, knowing that it won’t totally melt. Taste again, and season as desired.
Arrange the cauliflower florets in a 2-quart baking dish. Pour the cheese mixture over the florets, evenly distributing any unmelted cheese remaining at the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake until browned and bubbling, approx. 30-35 minutes.
Sprinkle with herbs. Let cool for a few minutes so the cheese will set. Serve with a protein like Italian sausage, and cooked braised greens, baby bok choy or asparagus.
Notes & Tips:
Of course, not all heads of cauliflower are the same size. Adjust cooking time slightly if you have more/less than 2 lbs. If yours is a lot different, you may want to save half of it for another recipe (see intro for a good suggestion), or adjust the other ingredient quantities accordingly.
Use a paring knife to cut a cone out of the core from the bottom (Waters, 2007)(Green, 2006) making it easier to separate the florets and less wasteful!
To achieve even cooking, some florets may need to be cut or broken by hand and the adjoining stalk trimmed.
Not from an organic farm, so I soaked in H20 with ¼ c white vinegar for about 20 minutes to remove any residual pesticides (UC Davis, 2012).
Steaming time is based on large florets of approx. 3”. If you are breaking yours up smaller, you can adjust the time by a minute or two to avoid mushy cauliflower.
I didn’t need any salt, even with unsalted butter, because the flavor of the extra-sharp cheddar was so strong.
Scholarly References:
Francisco, M., Pablo Velasco, P., Moreno, D., García-Viguera, C., Cartea, M.E. (2010). Cooking methods of Brassica rapa affect the preservation of glucosinolates, phenolics and vitamin C. Food Research International, 43(5), 1455-1463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2010.04.024.
Fritz, P. D. and Kappel, R. and Weichmann, J. (1979). Vitamin C in stored cauliflower. Landwirtschaftliche Forschung, 32(3), 275–282. https://www-cabidigitallibrary-org.bastyr.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.5555/19790379958 https://doi/full/10.5555/19790379958
Kapusta-Duch, J. and Aneta Kopeć, A. and Piątkowska, E. and Borczak, B. and Leszczyńska T. (2012). The beneficial effects of brassica vegetables on human health. Rocz Panstw Zakl Hig, 63(4), 389 - 395.
Lee, S., Choi, Y., Jeong, H. S., Lee, J., & Sung, J. (2017). Effect of different cooking methods on the content of vitamins and true retention in selected vegetables. Food science and biotechnology, 27(2), 333–342. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-017-0281-1
Zeng, C. (2013). Effects of different cooking methods on the vitamin C content of selected vegetables. Nutrition and Food Science, 43(5), 438-443. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/NFS-11-2012-0123
General References:
Green, A. (2006). Starting with Ingredients: quintessential recipes for the way we really cook. Running Press.
Minimalist Baker. (n.d.) Garlic chili pasta with roasted cauliflower. https://minimalistbaker.com/garlic-chili-pasta-with-roasted-cauliflower/
Smitten Kitchen. (2014, October 23). Cauliflower cheese. https://smittenkitchen.com/2014/10/cauliflower-cheese/
UC Davis Postharvest Research Center. (2012). Storing fresh fruits and vegetables for better taste. URL:https://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/publication/storing-fresh-fruits-and-vegetables-better-taste-color-pdf
Waters, A. (2007). The art of simple food: notes, lessons and recipes from a delicious revolution. Clarkson Potter/Publishers.
