Veg box round up with cauliflower cheese recipe

I am still enjoying getting to grips with seasonal vegetables from my veg box. Last week I went for a mini box with extra salad. I didn't have any new or unusual ingredients to contend with, which was a bit of a relief! I had another go at the kale and chilli pasta sauce which I attempted a few weeks ago. This time I remembered the chilli! It went from being palatable but bland to delicious. I very much recommend this recipe, especially if you add some crispy bacon. Yum!

I made cauliflower cheese again, mainly because I am very fond of cheese. Probably much more fond than is good for me. This is not a recipe for anyone attempting to lose weight! (Or for those with a lactose intolerance - sorry DH!) There are lots of different recipes for cauliflower cheese; this is mine. I got lost in a maze of metric to imperial conversion tables. Did you know English fluid ounces are different to American ones? It gave me a headache, so I've stuck to metric measures for this recipe!

Ingredients

1 medium cauliflower

For the topping:

large handful of breadcrumbs

handful of grated cheese

For the cheese sauce:

350ml milk

25g unsalted butter

25g plain flour

85g grated mature cheddar cheese

ground nutmeg

Half a teaspoon of mustard

Method

Remove the leaves from the cauliflower and chop into florets. Cook by boiling or steaming until tender. This will take about ten minutes.

While the cauliflower is cooking, make the cheese sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a gentle heat. Once it is melted, add the flour and stir it together for about a minute. Remove from the heat.

Add the milk a little at a time, stirring well after each addition so that it's all mixed in. Once the milk has all been added, put back onto a gentle heat and bring slowly to a boil. It's important to stir all the time, or the sauce will go lumpy. If it does, a good whisk will usually sort it out. When the sauce is bubbling gently, add the cheese, mustard and a shake of nutmeg and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Put the tender and steaming cauliflower into a shallow ovenproof dish. Pour over the sauce. Mix together the breadcrumbs and cheese and throw them over the sauce. Put the whole thing into an oven at 200C for about twenty minutes until the topping is golden and crispy. Try not to think of the calories while eating!