Vegan Cauliflower Cheese

Cauliflower cheese is a bit of a household classic in any Australian home and, I imagine, any other country with a strongly British-influenced cuisine! This next month or two I'm going to be featuring dished from the United Kingdom, and I thought cauliflower cheese was a great way to start. It might sound like a bit of a contradiction to make vegan cauliflower cheese, but really, the key to cauliflower cheese is white sauce rather than cheese itself. If you're not a vegan, feel free to top with some grated cheese for an actual 'cheese' experience. To be honest though, this recipe tastes exactly like the cauliflower cheese that I used to eat as a child so I don't actually think the cheese is necessary.

For a good vegan white sauce, I prefer not to use soy milk because it has such a strong flavour which can dominate the mild creamy sauce. Any mild flavoured milk substitute should be fine, I prefer oat milk but almond milk would work well too.

Vegan Cauliflower Cheese

Ingredients
1 cauliflower, cut into florets
1/2 cup nuttelex (or other vegan margarine/butter)
2 onions, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup vegetable stock (hot)
2 1/2 cups unsweetened oat milk (or rice/almond milk)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper, to taste
3/4 cup breadcrumbs mixed with 1 tbsp nutritional yeast

To Make
1. Parboil the cauliflower until only just tender and then drain and transfer to a large baking dish. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Melt the margarine in a medium saucepan and then add the onions and garlic. Cook until softened and translucent.
3. Add the flour and stir vigorously to make a roux. Gradually add the hot vegetable stock, stirring as vigorously as you do to keep the roux smooth. Once all the vegetable stock has been added, start adding the oat milk, also gradually and while stirring.
4. Once all the milk has been added, stir the roux over a low heat and add the lemon juice and the nutritional yeast. Season to taste with salt and pepper (you probably wont need to add salt, as vegetable stock is usually already very salty). 
5. Pour the white sauce over the top of the sliced caulifower and smooth over evenly. Top with bread crumbs and cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes and then remove the foil and bake for just long enough for the breadcrumbs on top to get lightly browned and crispy (you can switch your oven to the grill setting for this, in which case it will only take a few minutes). 

Serve as a side dish or as a main accompanied by some steamed green veggies.

I'm featuring lots of recipes from the United Kingdom,

Check out my other recipe posts here:

Summer Pudding

Mushroom & Guinness Pie

Roasted Love Apple and Wine Soup

Cranachan (Whiskey Cream with Raspberries and Oats)

Orange and Lemon Vegetables

Scottish Vegan Oat Scones

Swede & Parsnip Mini Cottage Pies

Multigrain Minestrone Soup with Chestnuts

Adding chestnuts to just about everything in is a habit I picked up when living in China when roasted chestnuts were sold cheap on the side of the road all winter. They add a lovely nutty sweetness to this soup which is a perfect one for using up all the little bits of vegies in your fridge, I just used whatever bits of vegies I had in my fridge so you can substitute any vegies that you have.

Ingredients:

5-6 raw chestnuts

1 litre vegetable stock

1/2 cup green lentils

3 tbsp brown rice
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 tbsp bulghur
3 tbsp quinoa
2 carrots, diced
1 celery stick, diced
1 cup of finely chopped cauliflower
3-4 button mushrooms, diced
5 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/3 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 zucchini, diced
1/3 cup soup pasta
1-2 handfuls of baby spinach
Salt and pepper to taste

To Make:
1. Preheat the oven or grill to high (as in over 200 degrees Celsius) and roast the chestnuts until they are slightly blackened on the outside and the shells are cracking. Remove from the oven and let cool before removing the shells, incuding as much of the dark brown skin underneath the shell as possible. Chop the chestnuts roughly and set aside to use later.
2. Bring the vegetable stock to the boil and add the lentils, brown rice and garlic. Simmer covered for 10 minutes while you prep all your other vegies.
3. Add the quinoa, bulghur, carrot, celery, cauliflower, mushroom, tomato paste, paprika and peas and simmer for a further 10 minutes or until the grains are well cooked.
4. Once all the vegies and grains are cooked add the pasta, zucchini and chestnuts and simmer, stirring frequently, until the pasta is cooked (you may need to add a bit more water to stop all the pasta and grains sticking to the bottom).
5. Once the pasta is cooked through turn off the heat and stir the baby spinach leaves through and then serve immediately.

Serves 3-4.

Vegan Baked Lentils with Sweet Potato and Cauliflower

There is something so hearty about baked lentils in winter and I'm always a fan of meals that you just throw together and leave in the oven for a while!

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced finely

1/2 fennel bulb, diced finely

500g button mushrooms, stems trimmed

1.5 cups puy lentils (also called bule lentils or French lentils by differernt companies)

5 cups of vegetable stock

500g sweet potato, peeled and diced

250g cauliflower (or however much you have in the fridge that you want to use up), chopped small (makes about 3 cups)

1 bay leaf

8 or so cherry tomatos

a small handful of pine nuts

To Make:

1. Preheat your oven to about 180 (you know your oven better than I do... or do you?).

2. You can start this dish by putting your casserole/baking dish straight on the stove to make this a one pot dish. Heat some olive oil in your baking dish and saute the onion and fennel until soft.

3. Set aside 8-10 of the mushrooms and slice the rest in thick bits. Add the mushroom to the cooking pot and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the lentils and the vegetable stock and bring to a simmer for about 15 minutes.

4. Add the sweet potato and cauliflower and remove from the heat. Cover and put in the oven for 30 minutes, removing the lid for the last 10 minutes.

5. While it is baking you can wash and trim the mushies you set aside. Put them on a baking tray and drizzle with some olive oil.

6. When your 30 minutes is up take the casserole dish out of the oven and put it aside to rest. Put the tray of mushrooms in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes throw in a the whole cherry tomatos and the pine nuts and cook for a further 2-3 minute - keep your eye on it so they don't burn.

To serve, place some lentils in a bowl and top with the baked vegies and pine nuts. Serves 4, or two with leftovers.