Gill Meller's recipe for wholesome and flavourful cauliflower cheese gratin
Gill Meller's cauliflower cheese is elevated thanks to the additions of ceps and parsley.
Out and out this is the tastiest cauliflower cheese I’ve had the pleasure of eating. In fact, it could be one of my favourite recipes in the book (this recipe first appeared in Gill's 'Root, Stem, Leaf, Flower: How to Cook with Vegetables and Other Plants' recipe book). I add dried ceps (sometimes they’re called porcini), a wild fungus and part of the Boletus family of mushrooms. They have a magical, savoury depth and add a completely new swathe of flavour to this timeless classic.
Ingredients
Serves four to six.
- 25g dried cep mushrooms
- 150ml hot water
- 1 large cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets, trimmings retained
- 850ml whole milk
- 1 handful of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped, stalked retained
- 2 bay leaves
- 100g unsalted butter
- 1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 50g plain flour
- 125g mature Cheddar cheese
- A handful of fresh, coarse white breadcrumbs
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Place the ceps in a small bowl and pour over the hot water. Leave to soak while you deal with other matters.
Place the cauliflower trimmings, including the stem and leaves, in a pan and pour over the milk. Add the parsley stalks and bay leaves. Place the pan on a medium heat, bring up to the simmer and immediately turn off the heat. Let the milk infuse for a while.
Place another large pan on a medium heat. Add 25g of the butter and, when it’s melted and bubbling away, add the onion and garlic and season lightly with salt and pepper. Gently fry, stirring regularly for 10–15 minutes, until the onions are nice and caramelised.
Meanwhile, drain the ceps, reserving the soaking liquid.
When the onions are ready, add the cauliflower florets along with the rehydrated ceps. Stir to combine, turn up the heat a little and fry for 6–8 minutes, until the cauliflower has softened. (Make sure you stir everything regularly so it cooks evenly.) Add the chopped parsley leaves and season well with salt and pepper. Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/gas mark 6.
Melt the remaining butter in another large pan over a medium heat. When it’s melted and bubbling, stir in the flour. Reduce the heat to medium–low and cook gently for a minute or so, then pour half the infused milk through a sieve into the pan. Use a whisk to mix the sauce vigorously, then sieve in the remaining milk, along with the mushroom soaking liquid (don’t add the very last few drops, though, as the dregs can be gritty) and whisk again.
Add all but a handful of the cheese to the sauce and stir it in well to melt. Taste, and season with salt and plenty of black pepper.
Pour the sauce over the cauliflower and give it a good mix. Spoon out the mixture into a large ovenproof dish or roasting tin and give it a shake to level it out. Scatter over the breadcrumbs and the remaining cheese and bake for 12–15 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling away and the breadcrumbs are golden, crisp and crunchy.
This recipe originally appeared in 'Root, Stem, Leaf, Flower — how to cook with vegetables and other plants'. You can follow Gill Meller on Instagram, here
