Madhouse Family Cauliflower Cheese recipe

Well, you all seemed to like the Madhouse Family Cheesy Fish Pie recipe (that I shared with you here) so I thought I'd give you another idea for a healthy(ish) family meal - Cauliflower Cheese. This is a great way of making veggies appealing to the kids, even if they usually turn their nose up at them. Although we made cauliflower cheese, it works with most vegetables – we also love this with a mixture of potatoes, leeks, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and anything else kicking about in the bottom of the fridge ! The cheesy sauce and crispy grilled cheese topping will have kids wolfing down their 5-a-day and asking for more !

First of all, you have to cook up the cauliflower. Usually, I would throw in some carrots and potatoes too but this time we went for cauliflower on its own. Drain and put to one side.

Fry up one onion, a handful of mushrooms and some bacon pieces and drain off the excess fat. For a healthier/lower fat version, replace the bacon by some chopped ham (just add to the cheese sauce at the last minute).

Make up some cheese sauce, either from scratch or using a packet mix.

I've been trying out the Tesco's cheese sauce mix which is quite a lot cheaper than the big brands. Tastewise, it is spot on – you can't tell the difference – but I did find it was harder to get a smooth sauce as it has a tendency to go lumpy.

Put the cooked cauliflower/vegetables in the cheese sauce, throw in the bacon, onions and mushrooms and stir it all up so that the sauce covers everything.

Pour into an ovenproof dish and cover with a layer of grated cheese.

At this point, it can be frozen or kept in the fridge until needed. Otherwise put it in the oven at 180/200° for about ½ hour until it's warmed through and the grated cheese has gone lovely and bubbly and golden brown.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Madhouse Family Cheesy Fish Pie recipe

Slow cooker recipe : Butter-Basted Whole Chicken

New Covent Garden Soup of the Month competition : 'The World Unites in London'