Real Meals for Real People: Simple Cauliflower Cheese with Bacon

My wife loves Cauliflower Cheese, and with bacon added it is a sure winner every time.

Serves 4
Cost - Approx £1.11p per portion *

*Note it is the bacon that drove up the cost of this simple dish otherwise it would have been approx £0.61p per portion

Ingredients:

1 Large Cauliflower
6 Rashers of bacon
1 pint of milk
50g of plain flour
50g of butter
126g of Cheddar cheese

Method:

In a frying pan, add a little oil, and cook the bacon until well done but not to crispy, set aside to cool **
Once cool, remove any rind still soft and discard and cut the bacon into small pieces, and set aside
Next take you cauliflower and give it a wash then remove the leaves and cut the florets up into mouth size pieces, discarding the large hard stem in the middle
Fill the pan with cold water and place on a high heat to bring it to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes then drain the cooked cauliflower
Add the bacon to the cauliflower and mix well
Place contents into a large oven proof dish
For the sauce, add the butter to a pan and melt on a medium heat, once melted, add the flour and stir in well, and cook on a low heat for 1 minute
Remove from the heat and gradually add the milk, one bit at a time, and stir into the butter and flour paste, once all the milk is added return to a medium heat and heat up stirring all the time until the sauce thickens
Add half the cheese to the pan and stir until melted in, then pour over the cauliflower and bacon
Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 220 Degree C for 50 minutes

** Whilst the world is all about healthy eating, I do have one pleasure, do not throw away the bacon fat from the frying pan, use it for beautiful fried bread or try adding it to mashed potato