Cauliflower recipes

Here is a selection of the cauliflower ideas and recipes from this evening’s chat with Renee Krosch, ABC Sydney.

Starting with a very easy cauliflower cheese. stepping it up to broccoli and cauliflower cheese tarts and then branching out to simply delicious cauliflower bites in batter.

If you would like any other recipes that were discussed, let me know and I will add them to the post immediately.

Cauliflower Cheese

1 small cauliflower, cut into florets

1 tablespoon cornflour

¼ cup milk

2 cups milk, extra

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup grated tasty cheese

Cook the cauliflower until just tender. Drain.

Meanwhile make a cornflour paste by mixing the cornflour with the ¼ cup milk. Bring the 2 cups milk to the boil and immediately mix in the cornflour paste, stirring constantly. Mix in the grated cheese. Carefully mix in the cooked cauliflower.

Serves 4

VARIATIONS

Transfer the cauliflower cheese into a casserole dish and sprinkle with ¼ to ½ cup grated cheese. Bake at 180°C (350°F/gas4) and bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Alternatively, place under a hot grill or in a moderate oven and cook until cheese is melted.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Cheese Tarts

(From “The Comfort Bake”)

Serves 4 to 8

These creamy, tasty tarts are made extra delicious by the added indulgence of small surprise bites of Camembert in the centre.

Al this delicious creaminess is encapsulated in crispy puff pastry.

Served piping hot from the oven, these are bound to be a family favourite.

For the sake of ease of preparation and convenience, in this recipe ready rolled pastry sheets are specified.

However, you could instead make a batch of easy flaky pastry, an added luxurious buttery texture and crunch.

The yield is generous, eight tarts in all. The reason being that these are excellent reheated next day for a light lunch. This is best done is the oven at 150 degrees for a few minutes, or in the air fryer at 180 degrees for 5 to 8 minutes.

Ingredients

150g cauliflower florets

200g broccoli florets

500ml milk

25g cornflour

500ml milk, extra

1 egg yolk, lightly whisked

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

100g grated tasty cheese

80g Camembert

60g grated tasty cheese, extra

30g finely grated Parmesan

2 sheets ready rolled puff pastry, thawed or 1 quantity of Easy Flaky Pastry (page XXX)

Method

Cook the cauliflower and broccoli in separate pots until just tender, then drain well.

In a bowl, mix together the cornflour and 50ml milk, then whisk in the egg yolk and Dijon until smooth. Set aside.

Bring the 500ml milk to the boil and then whisk in the cornflour paste. Continue stirring with a whisk over low heat until thickened. Stir in the 100g grated tasty cheese. Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Grease 8 x 200ml capacity pie tins.

To assemble for baking

Cut four circles from each pastry sheet and fit into the base of each pie tin.

Distribute the filling mixture evenly amongst the tart cases.

Divide the Camembert into 8 cubes. Insert one into the centre of each tart.

Combine the 60g remaining grated tasty cheese and the Parmesan, then sprinkle over the tarts.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden and the topping is golden brown.

Batter for Tempura Vegetables

Basic Batter

1 cup self raising flour

¼ teaspoon salt

Good pinch of bicarbonate of soda