Cauliflower Cheese with Spanish Cheeses & Jamon Iberico

Once the main Christmas feast is over I usually find myself swearing I will never eat another heavy meal like that again. Well, at least not until the next big festivity that is… I have been experimenting recently with various vegetable based dishes because I adore them… A meal is never complete for me without copious amounts of vegetables. My most recent creation occurred yesterday when I was faced with the most beautiful looking cauliflowers in the supermarket. I knew what I had to do – its been sometime since I had enjoyed a comforting meal of cauliflower cheese, one of my favourites from my childhood. I ventured next to the cheese counter and found a wide selection specially brought in for the festive season. I selected a beautiful queso de cabra semicurado (semi cured) and a beautiful blue cheese Bergader Epelpiz.

Ingredients:-

• 1 medium cauliflower (approx 1lb/450g)
• 2 oz/ 55g butter
• 2 oz/ 55g all purpose/plain flour
• 1 level tsp grain mustard
• Large pinch salt
• 1 pint / 460 ml milk
• 50g Blue Cheese – I used Spanish Blue Cheese but feel free to use whatever tickles your fancy
• 50g Cured or Semi-Cured Cheese
• Freshly ground pepper
• 50g Jamon Iberico (Cured Iberian Ham – Optional)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 395F/200C/Gas 7
2. Remove the green outer leaves from the cauliflower. Make cut a deep cross in the bottom of the stem then steam whole over a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove the cauliflower from the heat and leave to cool. I find steaming significantly better than simply cooking in water or stock but this is also an option if you should cheese.
3. Now its time to make the sauce. Place the butter and flour into a large saucepan. Over a low heat stir the butter and flour until the butter has melted and the flour is incorporated. Add the salt and mustard and continue stirring for 2 minutes. You do this to cook out the taste of flour and soften the starch grains.
4. Turn the heat up to medium and add the milk in one go and whisk vigorously until all a smooth sauce is formed. Continue to stir until a nice thick and glossy sauce forms – this normally takes around 5 minutes. You can add more milk if the sauce is a little thicker than you would like – it should be relatively thick but still have pouring consistency. Add the grated cheeses and stir until they have melted. Remove the sauce from the heat.
5. Break the cauliflower florets from the stalk.Place the florets in a greased baking dish large enough to hold all the florets in one layer.
6. Heat a small frying pan and lightly brown the cured ham. Set to one side.
7. Pour the cheese sauce over the cauliflower ensuring all the florets are covered. Top with the cured ham and sprinkle with a little extra grated cheese and a little black pepper.
8. Bake in the hot oven until the sauce is bubbling and golden brown on the top. This should take approx 30 minutes.