Cauliflower 'n' Cheese

This recipe proves that cauliflower is a lot more than broccoli's hot blonde cousin. It's essentially mac 'n' cheese, but cauliflower instead of macaroni. I was a little hesitant going into it since I've never really had cauliflower. But, I trust Vegetarian Times magazine (this was the cover recipe this month) and was thrilled with the results, so was the madre. Even Sophie took a good long sniff.

Cauliflower is low fat, low carb and much less starchy than macaroni. I also found that it has a nice texture to it, other than the smoothness of macaroni. Sorry Yankee Doodle, I'll be sticking cauliflower in my hat from now on. (And yes I'm aware that it was actually a feather that he called macaroni.) Plus, cauliflower is high in fiber and vitamin C. Boiling the cauliflower does make it lose some nutrients, but if you keep the boiling time to 5 minutes, you don't lose too much. Also, the recipe has you put some of the cooking water back in, so bonus nutrients! Score!

Before serving, I topped mine off with minced green onion along with freshly ground sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Delish.  Caul i the flower of my eye! (Call it, cauli, get it?)

Ingredients 
1 large cauliflower head, cut into medium florets (8 cups)
2 T butter or margarine
3 T all purpose flour
2 cups low fat milk
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
*1/2 cup nutritional yeast*
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 egg yolks
!1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs!

* THIS IS NOT LEAVENING YEAST THAT YOU USE FOR BAKING*
!You can make breadcrumbs but tearing bread into pieces, then throwing it into a food processor and whirring it into breadcrumbs!

Directions


1, Preheat oven to 350°F. Bring large pot of salted water to boil ( Remember, according to every Food Network chef ever, flavor starts in the pot!) Add cauliflower florets and boil 5-7 minutes, or until just tender. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid, and set it aside.

2. Melt butter in same pot over medium heat. Whisk in flour, and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Whisk in milk, garlic, and reserved cooking liquid, and cook 7-10 minutes, or until sauce is thickened, whisking constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in cheese, nutritional yeast, cayenne pepper and egg yolks until cheese is melted. Fold in cauliflower.

3. Coat a 13x9 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread cauliflower mixture in baking dish, and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Spray breadcrumbs with cooking spray. Bake 30 minutes or until casserole is hot and bubbly and breadcrumbs are crisp and brown.


Katie's Notes: I didn't have any nutritional yeast, and at 9pm, I didn't feel like putting on real pants to go to the grocery store, so that didn't make it into my version. I made a half batch of this dish and found that I needed more flour than 1.5 T, so I added another 1/2-1 T. I also used a full clove of garlic for my half batch. I love garlic, I don't think you can ever have too much of this low-fat delicious flavor.