Cauliflower Cheese and Bean Bake

A vegetarian dish from TV chef Brian Turner.
Serves: 6
Preperation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 50 minutes

INGREDIENTS
• 1 x 500g/ 1 lb 1½ oz cauliflower
• 40g/ 1½ oz butter
• 40g/ 1½ oz flour
• 250ml/ 9 fl oz double cream
• 125ml/ 4 ½ fl oz Milk
• 175g/ 6 fl oz Lancashire cheese
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 dash of tabasco sauce
• Salt and pepper
• 40g/ 1 ½ oz Parmesan cheese, grated *see my footnote
• 1 tbsp fresh white breadcrumbs
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 x tin of tomatoes
• 1 x tin of cannellini beans
• 1 x tin of chickpeas
• Sprigs of parsley to garnish

METHOD
• Sweat the onion and garlic until softened.
• Pour in the tinned tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes.
• Add the cannellini beans and the chickpeas and cook until the liquid has evaporated.
• Pour into a greased pie dish.
• Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil. Cut the cauliflower into even-sized florets and plunge in the boiling water. Cook until just tender before draining in a colander and reserving about 125ml of cooking liquid.
• Melt the butter in a medium saucepan set over a low heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring all the time, for about 2 minutes. The flour should take on a slightly toasted aroma. Preheat the oven to 180C/ gas 4.
• Pour in the cream and bring the sauce to the boil, whisking out any lumps as it heats. Add the milk, whisk once more to combine, and remove from the heat.
• Add the Tabasco sauce, mustard and seasoning, followed by the cheese. If sauce is too thick add 2 tbsp of the cooking liquid from the cauliflower.
• Arrange the cooked florets in a dish, heaping them up into a dome. Gently pour the sauce over, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs.
• Bake for about 15 minutes, until the cauliflower has heated through and the cheese topping has melted and browned.
• Garnish with a few sprigs of flat-leaf parsley.

* Parmesan - I dislike Parmesand and consequently use some other hard cheese to top it or perhaps a bit of Red Leicester or Cheddar. If using Parmesan always use fresh Parmesan and grate it yourself - it is less obnoxious than the pre-grated stuff you can buy in a tub. That smells and tastes like baby-sick!