Cauliflower Cheese 

I don’t want to scare you all by saying the “C” word, but I’m going to be saying it a lot in this article so let’s just get it over and done with. Christmas. It might not be December yet, but you’ve got to admit that you’ve already been thinking about it. Christmas decorations and chocolates are already hitting the supermarket aisles, relatives asking about your plans, and even possibly the odd song in some stores. It’s creeping up on us and you can’t hide from it. 

Christmas and Cauliflower

Whether you like Christmas or not, one thing I think that we should all agree on is that one of the best parts of the day is the food. This can be a traditional Christmas dinner, all of the morning chocolates or even a Christmas curry if that’s what you’re into. But, there’s one dish in particular that holds a special place in my heart. It’s rich, creamy and pure filth. Cauliflower cheese.  

Cauliflower Confession

Let me take you back around 4-5 years when this story first began. To start I will have to make a small confession, vegetables aren’t my favourite thing. Especially not on a Christmas dinner. They are there to balance out the better foods like the meat and potatoes, so they serve a purpose. But something changed that year at Christmas dinner. It was the last Christmas dinner that I spent at my grandma’s house, so I’m not sure whether that’s what makes it so memorable, or this specific moment that I’m about to describe.

It was business as usual, my Grandma had prepared a feast for dinner, three different variations of meat, two variations of potato, a whole lot of vegetables and the juice of the Northern Gods, gravy. I did what I do every year, cram my plate with turkey, ham and potatoes and leave a little room for carrots, broccoli and maybe one more vegetable. But the veg is usually drowned in gravy so I don’t really have to taste it. At one of the tables a special dish has always been reserved for certain guests. Because it was always off limits, or taken way before I had the chance, I never considered adding cauliflower cheese to my meal. However this year it was different, there were two dishes of cauliflower cheese, it was my chance. 

A Cauliflower Change

At this point I still wasn’t convinced, cauliflower is like broccoli’s poor cousin, but everything tastes better covered in cheese right? So I started with a small spoon, of course I had to position it as far away from the gravy as possible because something does not sit right with me the thought of gravy and bechamel combined. And then it happened. 21 years of my life I’d been missing out on what was possibly one of the best parts of a Christmas dinner. There is nothing not to like about cauliflower cheese. The cauliflower is so plain that you’re left not with the taste of a cruciferous vegetable, but instead the rich delight that comes from the sauce. 

What’s the take home from this apart from a detailed account of my experience eating cauliflower cheese? Always try things out. Let me tell you I could have been having a far better Christmas each year if I’d have done this earlier. Don’t let your Christmas go to waste because you aren’t willing to try a new dish. Also, don’t let people hog food.