Cauliflower cheese

You can make individual cauliflower cheeses in small enamel dishes instead of one family-sized dish and reduce the cooking time to 20–25 minutes. Place the dishes on a baking tray to catch any drips.

If you add the milk a little too fast and the sauce becomes lumpy, simply pass through a sieve into a clean saucepan before adding the cheese.

It's important to season your sauce after adding the cheese, as cheese is quite salty.

Cheddar cheese is the traditional topping, but a mix of cheddar and Parmesan also works. Use odds and ends of cheese from your fridge to make an extra cheesy sauce. Cut off any rind, finely chop or grate the cheese and add to the sauce towards the end of the cooking time. You can use any cheese – brie, Stilton, and even goat’s cheese all work well, but some will add more punch than others, so add a little at a time and taste the sauce once the cheese has melted.

For a crunchy topping, sprinkle the sauce-covered cauliflower with dried breadcrumbs, or small pieces of bread before scattering over the grated cheese. For extra flavour you can add chopped and cooked bacon bits or crispy fried onions too. You could also stir pieces of diced ham into the sauce before pouring over the cauliflower.

As a delicious alternative, use a mixture of cauliflower and broccoli florets instead.

For a vegan version, use plant-based alternatives to the butter, milk and cheese. To make into a more substantial meal, sprinkle the cauliflower with chopped toasted nuts and seeds.

To make your cauliflower go further, you can boil the cauliflower leaves and central stalk along with the florets. The leaves can be thickly sliced but you’ll need to cut the stem into small chunks so it can be cooked at the same time as the florets. Alternatively, slice it thinly and boil for a couple of minutes before adding the rest of the cauliflower.

How to use up leftovers

Leftovers can be warmed in a microwave oven for a couple of minutes or transferred to a smaller ovenproof dish, topped with extra grated cheese and reheated at 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6 for about 20 minutes. For an alternative use of leftovers, make soup: put the leftover cauliflower cheese in a saucepan and add hot vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer then remove from the heat and blitz with a stick blender until smooth. Ladle into bowls and serve as a creamy cauliflower soup with hunks of warm crusty bread.

To make ahead

You can assemble the cauliflower cheese ahead of time and keep in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking if you like.

How to freeze

If you know you are going to freeze your cauliflower cheese (great if you have a garden glut or have been able to grab a few cauliflowers cheaply), blanch the cauliflower florets for 2 minutes in boiling water rather than cooking it completely. Drain in a colander under running water until cold and drain thoroughly. Partly cooking it like this will mean the florets retain more texture when frozen. Place in a freezer and ovenproof containers – toughed glass, such as Pyrex, or an enamel pie dish is ideal, but you can also use a foil container.

Make the cheese sauce according to the recipe then cool for 15 minutes. Stir in an extra splash of cold milk to loosen the sauce and pour over the cauliflower. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and leave to cool completely. Cover in foil or a lid, label and freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat uncovered from frozen, adding an extra 15–20 minutes to the cooking time, or until piping hot throughout.

For a lighter cauliflower cheese that still tastes incredible, try roasting your cauliflower.