Whole Roast Cauliflower Cheese with Wild Garlic: A stunning and very easy to prepare cauliflower cheese that has wild garlic added to the quick cheese sauce. Perfect for any Spring supper or weekend luncheon.

A May Day Spring Recipe

Our back garden is currently swathed in bright green leaves with star-like white blossoms, it’s that time of year again and I’m so lucky to have wild garlic growing right on my doorstep. There is an army of lush, green leaves that are intermingled with bluebells in a shady flower border next to the back door of the main schoolhouse, so it’s not so much foraging for me, but a quick step outside with a pair of scissors! I love wild garlic, and remember eating it fresh from the edge of the woods on my long walk to school when we lived in Hampshire. I have lots of wild garlic recipes on Lavender & Lovage, and today’s recipe for Whole Roast Cauliflower Cheese with Wild Garlic is my latest wild garlic offering.

I have shared a whole roasted cauliflower recipe before, and there’s a recipe in my travel cookbook too, but today’s recipe is a twist on a classic cauliflower cheese recipe, with a very quick and easy cheese sauce. It’s a whole cauliflower recipe that is humble enough for a simple family supper, or that would make a lovely centrepiece for any vegetarian lunch or dinner. Obviously, as well as the cauliflower and cheese, the other essential ingredient is wild garlic, and when it is out of season, you can use a mixture of spring onion tops and diced garlic in place of these pungent green leaves. I used a lovely vintage Cheddar cheese in the sauce, which was man enough to stand up to the wild garlic without overpowering it.

The recipe is shared below on a printable recipe card, and I think that it’s the perfect May Day and a very Spring-like recipe. The first of May is a special day in my family, it was my maternal grandfather’s birthday and it is the prelude to a month of many family birthdays and anniversary celebrations, of which one is mine. It’s also a wonderful day of merriment and flowers……a day to dance and have fun. I know the weather in the UK is not very summery at present, and I am sure that if you were planning on dancing around a May Pole you might have a very soggy time of it unfortunately!

Image: www.1900s.org.uk

I hope you enjoy this recipe for Whole Roast Cauliflower Cheese with Wild Garlic if you make it, and do let me know how it turned out. If you have time to make a classic white cheese sauce, then by all means make that. However, I love this easy cheese sauce recipe, (with the added egg for coating properties) and it suspends the chopped wild garlic in the sauce well too. I’ve shared some more wild garlic recipes below, whilst it’s in season, and I wish you all a VERY HAPPY MAY DAY! Karen 

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Lavender & Lovage:

A Culinary Notebook of Memories & Recipes From Home & Abroad

Born from her eponymous award winning blog this book contains 160 unique recipes, all beautifully photographed by the author. They showcase the breadth and depth of her travel. Karen has lived and travelled all over the world and has brought some of her favourite recipes, experiences, and memories to share here with her readers. 

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Whole Roast Cauliflower Cheese with Wild Garlic

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Serves	2 to 3 as a main meal
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	50 minutes
Total time	1 hours, 10 minutes
Allergy	Egg, Milk
Dietary	Gluten Free, Vegetarian
Meal type	Lunch, Main Dish, Side Dish, Snack
Misc	Child Friendly, Serve Hot
Occasion	Barbecue, Birthday Party, Casual Party, Easter
Region	British
By author	Karen Burns-Booth

A stunning and very easy to prepare cauliflower cheese that has wild garlic added to the quick cheese sauce.

Ingredients

Cauliflower

• 1 x medium fresh cauliflower (trimmed and tough stem cut off)
• Olive or rapeseed oil

Sauce

• 225g grated vintage Cheddar cheese
• 225ml creme fraiche
• 1 large free-range egg (beaten)
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 10 wild garlic leaves (finely diced)

Garnish

• Wild garlic flowers (to garnish)

Note

A stunning and very easy to prepare cauliflower cheese that has wild garlic added to the quick cheese sauce. Perfect for spring lunches and simple suppers.

Directions

Step 1	Pre-heat oven to 220C/450F/Gas mark 7. Bring a pan of water to the boil and then add the whole cauliflower. Simmer the cauliflower, covered, for 30 minutes, turning it over half way through. Take the cauliflower out of the poaching water and sit it in a colander to cool whilst you make the sauce.
Step 2	Mix all of the sauce ingredients together until they form a smooth, thick paste.
Step 3	Sit the drained and cooled cauliflower in an oven-proof dish. Brush the olive or rapeseed oil over the cauliflower - I used a spray oil.
Step 4	Spoon the sauce over the cauliflower and the bake it for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the sauce is golden brown and bubbling.
Step 5	Remove from the oven and cut into slices or into quarters, serving with the excess sauce from the baking dish and a scattering of wild garlic flowers. Fabulous when served with crusty bread and a seasonal salad.

More WILD GARLIC Recipes:

Cheesy Roast New Potatoes with Wild Garlic

Wild Garlic and Blue Wensleydale Tart

5:2 Diet Fast Day Recipe:

Wild Garlic and Chilli Sweetcorn Fritters (185 Calories

Cream Cheese & Salmon Spread with Wild Garlic

Marinated English Goat’s Cheese

with Wild Garlic, Stem Ginger and Herbs

Wild Garlic, Lemon & Lovage Soup