Cauliflower cheese pasta bake

This is my familys version of the delicious British dish. It is the perfect comfort food and is really easy to make.

Ingredients:

For sauce:

1 litre soya milk

2 heaped tbsp plain flour

2 heaped tbsp margarine

1 heaped tsp mustard

1 large handful of grated mature cheddar

Other ingredients:

280g pasta

1 medium head of cauliflower

1 head of broccoli

1 handful of grated mature cheddar to top

Method:

1. Break up the cauliflower and broccoli into flourettes and put them in a large ovenproof pan (with the lid on) with enough water to cover them. Cook on a high heat.

2. Bring 2/3 of a medium pan of water to the boil ready for the pasta. Add the pasta to the pan when the water is at a rolling boil.

3. Drain the cauliflower and broccoli when they are cooked but firm and leave them in the colander to one side.

4. Add the milk, flour, margarine and mustand for the sauce into the large pan you used for the veg with a good grind of salt and pepper. Put it on a medium heat and use a whisk to mix it until the margarine melts and the sauce becomes smooth and starts to thicken.

5. Stir in the cheese gradually until there are no lumps.

6. Drain the pasta when it is cooked but not super soft and add the pasta and veg to the sauce when it is ready.

7. Top with the handful of cheese and put in the oven on a high heat for about 10 minutes.

This dish is a favourite of my family because it is so delicious and comforting. It is perfect for when you want something filling and easy to cook. It will make about 6 portions but could make more depending on portion size.

When it comes to changes for this recipe, there are many you can make. You could just do cauliflower with no broccoli, swap the soya milk for cows milk, use more or less mustard, use a milder cheese and swap the type of pasta to wholemeal. I tend to use soya milk instead of cows milk because I prefer it. I've found that out of dairy alternatives, soya milk works best for this dish but you could choose another alternative if you liked. With this recipe, I also use grainy mustard because I prefer the flavour it gives the sauce, but any mustard works fine so you could use any that you prefer. This recipe has plenty of ways you can change it to fit you.

As you can see, this recipe isn't the healthiest as it contains lots of cheese but, it does contain many of the nurtrients you need in a meal. This dish contains protein, carbohydrate, dairy, dietry fibre and lots of vitamins and nutrients (including calcium, iron, manganese, thiamin and phosphorus). This means that overall, this isn't a bad recipe but I wouldn't reccommend you have it all the time due to the saturated fat in the cheese (unless you choose to use a low fat cheese).

Thank you for reading, I hope you try this recipe. If you enjoyed reading this post, please look around at some of my other posts.