As I was starting to work on this post, Dave walked by me here in the kitchen, and said, “tell them DH says [see, he even knows his nickname] this is great, and it would even be good as a complete meal.” Yup. I agree. But then I’d have eaten way too much of this, and it’s not exactly low calorie. So maybe I should stick with just a serving and enjoy it twice.
We had meatloaf with it. We’ve had a catastrophe (a refrigeration type) here at our house, that, as I write this, isn’t yet rectified. A 10-month old Kenmore refrigerator/freezer quit freezing. The refrigerator part works fine. Just the freezer went on the fritz. Everything in the freezer was defrosted. This unit lives in our garage. About $200+ worth of frozen meats (mostly) that lives in that freezer had all reached 32 degrees. I discovered it nearly 10 days ago. A quick trip to a local grocery store to buy dry ice at least kept the worst scenario from happening. The next day I was on the phone to Sears about our 1-year warranty. They informed us that they couldn’t get here for 11 days. ELEVEN DAYS! I said. What do you mean, eleven days? I have hundreds of dollars worth of meat that’s going to go bad. This is under warranty. You can’t do this. You know, yada yada. They had no sympathy. I escalated my request to a supervisor. I don’t know what country the Sears customer service people are from, but I had a very hard time understanding every person I spoke to. After all the ranting and raving, we’re right back to where we were – 11 days wait.
So, every day or two my DH, bless him, has been making a trek to the grocery store for more blocks of dry ice. As I write this we’ve spent well over $100 on dry ice to keep the entire lot from defrosting again. We have no idea whether they’ll even have the part that will be required to repair it. Truly I don’t know what I’ll do if they tell us we’ll have to wait for them to ship replacement parts. Maybe I can take them to small claims court. You think? For the cost of all the dry ice. Think I’d win? I can tell you for sure I’m never – EVER – buying another appliance from Sears. Period.
So anyway, I had to move as much of the frozen stuff as I could into our kitchen freezer. Which is huge. But full. I decided to start SERIOUSLY using some of the frozen meats. So far we’ve had 2 packages of pork chops, 4 packages of chicken breasts. Some breakfast sausages, and tonight we devoured some meatloaf that I’d made a year ago into serving sized “loaves.” So I’m working on it.
The weather here is stinkin’ hot. There’s no other word for it – it’s dreadfully hot. So a comfort meal of hot meatloaf and a hot veg didn’t exactly appeal. But it’s what we had ready to fix. It was so hot we had to eat dinner in the house in the A/C. It was close to 100 today. I probably won’t post this story until next week. I’ve got too many stories lined up. A good thing, really.
So, back to cauliflower. I remembered I’d saved a cauliflower recipe recently but had to find it. Why or how I ever even GOT this recipe baffles me. I had the web link in my recipe software – from a radio station in New Zealand. Huh? Why was I looking at recipes online at a radio station in New Zealand, I ask you? Guess I’ll never know. Someone must have mentioned it. I do read a couple of bloggers from down under. Anyway, the author must be a chef somewhere there.
Basically this is steamed cauliflower covered in a cheesy cream sauce and topped with some pan-sautéed bread crumbs and parsley. The latter absolutely MADE the dish, so don’t get lazy and not make that part. They provide some lovely crunch to it. But they won’t be crunchy on leftovers since they absorb too much moisture. I used a whole passel of pots and pans to make this (too many, really, but it turned out to be worth it). My DH can tell you all about that since he washed them all for me. I’m SO lucky to have a hubby who likes to wash dishes!
You could certainly steam the cauliflower ahead (and reheat it), make the cheese sauce ahead (and reheat it). You just pour the hot sauce over the hot cauliflower, sprinkle on a bit more grated cheese and the crispy crumbs. I’ll definitely make this again. Delicious!
First I started out with the hot steamed cauliflower. I poured the florets into a bowl just large enough to contain them.
I’d already made the cream sauce: An onion (halved) goes into the pan with milk, plus garlic cloves, bay leaf and whole peppercorns. That’s simmered awhile. Strain out the onion and spices. Then you make the actual cream sauce with some butter and flour, adding in the strained milk. The grated cheddar cheese went in after the sauce was thickened and as soon as it melted (off heat) it was poured over the cauliflower.
Then you sprinkle the reserved cheese over the top and it melts almost immediately. Salt and pepper it lightly.
The parsley breadcrumbs were made in a separate pan, sautéed with a bit of butter until they turned crispy brown. Oh are they ever yummy. Sprinkle them all over the top and serve absolutely immediately. To raves.
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Cauliflower Cheese with Crisp Parsley Breadcrumbs
Recipe: Chef Rick Stein, interviewed on Radio New Zealand, 2004
Servings: 4
1 large cauliflower
salt and freshly ground black pepper
CREAMY CHEESE SAUCE:
1 small onion — halved
4 cloves garlic
2 cups milk — (450 ml)
1 whole bay leaf
5 whole peppercorns
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 ounces sharp cheddar cheese — or hard farmhouse cheese, crumbled
1 tsp English mustard
PARSLEY BREADCRUMBS:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup bread crumbs — white bread
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1. SAUCE: into a 2-quart saucepan add the milk, then the onion halves, garlic, bay leaf and peppercorns. Bring to the boil then remove from the heat and set aside for 20 minutes to infuse.
2. Strain the milk through a sieve and discard the flavoring ingredients. Melt the butter in a non-stick saucepan, add the flour and cook over a medium heat for one minute. Gradually beat in the milk and bring to the boil, stirring. Simmer very gently for 10 minutes, giving it an occasional stir. It will thicken some.
3. CAULIFLOWER: Meanwhile, cut the cone-shaped core from the centre of the cauliflower with a small sharp knife and cut the cauliflower into florets. Put 1/2 cup of water and ½ teaspoon of salt into a saucepan large enough to hold the cauliflower and bring to the boil. Add the cauliflower, cover and steam for five minutes only.
4. BREADCRUMBS: Meanwhile, for the parsley breadcrumbs, melt the butter in a frying pan, add the crumbs and stir over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes until crisp and golden. Stir in some salt and pepper. Turn the heat to very low and have everything else ready to serve.
5. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in all but a small handful of the cheese together with the cream, mustard and some seasoning to taste. Drain the cauliflower and place in a warmed shallow oval dish, then pour over the sauce and scatter with the remaining cheese. Stir the parsley into the crisp breadcrumbs, sprinkle over the top and serve.
Per Serving: 413 Calories; 28g Fat (59.9% calories from fat); 18g Protein; 24g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 84mg Cholesterol; 525mg Sodium.
A year ago: Peach Galette
Two years ago: Southwest Eggs Benedict
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