A Christmas Day dinner side dish sent to us from the comfort-food Gods! aka. Clodagh McKenna! This is a warming, creamy, cheesy, textured side that will take your Christmas Dinner to new levels of gorge…
Step by Step
(tick the boxes as you go)
- 1 Pre-heat the oven to 170oC/Gas3.
- 2 Remove the outer leaves from the cauliflower and coarsely chop. Then place the cauliflower and leaves in a saucepan with about 2.5cm of water. Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes (you want them slightly undercooked as they will be going in the oven too).
- 3 In a separate saucepan, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Cook for two to three minutes, stirring constantly. Then add the milk, whisking continuously to ensure that no lumps form. Stir in the grated cheese and the freshly grated nutmeg.
- 4 Place the cauliflower in a lightly buttered gratin dish and pour over the cheese sauce.
- 5 Next make the hazelnut topping, by roasting the hazelnuts in the pre-heated oven for ten minutes. Once roasted remove from the oven and place in a food processor and blend for 30 seconds (not too fine), mix them together with the parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the hazenut topping over the cauliflower cheese.
- 6 Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes and then serve immediately.
Ingredients
- 1 small cauliflower
- 80g butter
- 80g flour
- 400ml milk
- 80g mature Irish cheddar cheese
- 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
For the topping
- 50g hazelnuts
- 40g breadcrumbs
- 50g parmesan cheese
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
You’ll need
- Non-stick pan
- Whisk
- Roasting or baking dish
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