Cheesy Cauliflower Casserole

Warning: Heart-healthy cooks, avert your eyes.


This dish is full of cheddar cheese. But it is also full of cauliflower, and now that we are approaching the "dark days," when the freshest local produce may consist mainly of cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and other hearty brassicas, a good cauliflower recipe is not such a bad thing.

I've been holding onto this one for years because it is so easy and so full of decadent deliciousness on a cold night. It could be a meal in itself, served with a salad, or wonderful next to a roast chicken or ham.

We purchased a huge head of cauliflower from the farmers market down the street along with a hefty wedge of cheddar cheese from the Keswick Creamery in Newburg, PA. So this is one guilty pleasure that is completely local.

If you know how to make a Bechamel sauce, there is nothing at all tricky about this casserole. First, divide a large head of cauliflower into florets and cook them until just done in a large pot of salted water. Drain and set aside.

For the Bechamel sauce, melt 3 tablespoons butter in a sauce pan over moderate heat, then stir in 3 tablespoons flour. Cook 3 or 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until the mixture becomes frothy. The object is to cook the flour without letting it brown. Begin adding about 2 cups room temperature milk (I use 2 percent), 1/4-cup at a time, stirring continuously.

The sauce will become quite thick as it cooks. Continue adding milk as needed. Remove sauce from heat and stir in about 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese. Season to taste with salt, white pepper and ground nutmeg.

Add the cooked cauliflower to a souffle dish and pour in the cheese sauce. Top with bread crumbs and place in a 350-degree oven for about 1 hour, or until the bread crumbs are golden brown. The cauliflower should be extremely tender, and the kitchen filled with the aroma of baked cheese.

Serve hot.

My secret vice is the leftovers from this dish. They are impossible to resist. The souffle dish, covered with plastic, calls to me from the refrigerator. I warm a heaping serving spoon-full into a bowl and heat it in the microwave. A glass of white wine and I am content.

Meatless Cassoulet

We catered a dinner party for a client last night and we were especially puffed up over the fact that most of the food came from our garden here in the District of Columbia about one mile from the White House.

The world may be going to hell in a handbasket elsewhere, but our front yard here is still making great food.

The opening salad, for instance, was harvested just hours before the guests arrived: a half-dozen varieties of greens provided a background for Purple Cherokee and Brandywine tomatoes tossed with multi-colored beets. Around an entree of sweet-and-sour braised chicken thighs, we served minted orange and golden carrots, and this incredible casserole of beans, tomatoes and toasted bread crumbs.

I'm calling it a meatless cassoulet but of course it isn't a cassoulet at all. It only cooks in the oven for about an hour, but the flavors so remind me of the famous dish of confit and sausage and beans from Southwestern France that a comparison is almost inevitable.

I saw Alice Waters demonstrate this dish on television where she used cranberry beans. I wanted to see if it would adapt to the "lima" beans we grew in our garden this year, of which there was a ton still to be eaten. I put quotes around the "lima" part because these were not the lima beans with which I have been familiar since childhood--those bright green beans that some people love so much to hate. They came out of the pods a mottled brown and white and turned a deep chocolate brown when cooked, reminding me more of the dried fava beans you find in the Middle Eastern grocery.

Whatever they are, they have a wonderfully deep, meaty and satisfying flavor. I thought they would compare favorably to cranberry beans and I think they actually outdo them for flavor in this casserole.

For a small casserole, you need about 1 1/2 cups of cooked beans, saving the cooking liquid (I cooked mine with some onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaf). Set those aside and saute in some extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 medium onion, diced small, and a large clove of garlic--or two--finely chopped. Season with coarse salt. Add several sage leaves, chopped fine to make about 1 tablespoon.

Meanwhile, toast fresh bread crumbs made by removing the crusts from a couple of thick slices of rustic bread (we've been using a loaf with rosemary) and pulsing them in a food processor until broken down into small pieces.

Toss the cooked beans, the onion-garlic-sage mix and a medium heirloom tomato roughly chopped (about 1 cup). Season with salt and pepper and pour this into your casserole. Pour leftover bean cooking liquid into the casserole to just cover the vegetable mix. (You can use chicken stock if you don't have bean cooking liquid). Top with bread crumbs and place in a 375-degree oven. Bake until the bread crumbs are golden brown and the liquid has been absorbed. Serve warm.

Beans, onion, garlic, sage--what a great combination, and the bread crumbs almost make the dish a meal in itself. Try this and see if it doesn't taste like a meatless cassoulet to you. You will be hungering for the leftovers.