Cauliflower Cheese Pasta

This recipe uses up stale bread and is a great way to get hidden vegetables into children. It can be served as a main dish or as a side with grilled chicken or fish. To make it suitable for coeliacs, substitute gluten-free bread and pasta.

Prep:
10
mins
Cook:
10
mins
Shallow Frying
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Ingredients

For 4 people as a main meal

3-4 slices of stale bread (any type) or 100g breadcrumbs

1 clove of garlic

1 tbsp. olive or rapeseed oil

½ head of cauliflower

1 onion

400ml milk

300g dried pasta (any shape)

80g cheddar style cheese – grated

Salt and pepper (to taste)

Method

  • If using bread, blitz in a blender to make breadcrumbs.  If using breadcrumbs, add these straight into the blender.
  • Add into the blender: the garlic clove, olive/rapeseed oil and a few of the smaller inner cauliflower leaves.  Blitz again into a fairly fine crumb.
  • Crisp up the breadcrumb mix in a wide-bottomed pan over a medium heat, this will take approx. 10-15 minutes (keep an eye on it and stir around regularly so it doesn’t burn).
  • While the breadcrumb mix is crisping, finely chop the onion and chop the cauliflower (including the stalk) into small pieces.
  • When the breadcrumbs are crisped up, tip them into a bowl and keep to the side until serving.
  • Using the same wide-bottomed pan, add the milk, chopped onion and cauliflower and bring to the boil over a medium heat.  Cover with a lid, reduce to a low heat and simmer for approx. 7-8 minutes or until vegetables are cooked.
  • In the meantime, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water, following the instructions on pack.
  • Add the cauliflower mixture into the blender and blitz with the grated cheese until very smooth (you may need to do this in batches).
  • Drain the pasta and return to the saucepan.  Add the cauliflower cheese mix and stir through.
  • Serve topped with a generous sprinkling of the breadcrumb mixture.

Nutritional Information

  • A good source of fibre
  • A good source of protein
  • Vegetarian
  • No added sugar

Tips  

  • Use wholemeal pasta to increase fibre intake. This can help to improve digestive health.
  • To increase the protein content of this dish, serve with grilled chicken or fish.