Bacon crumble cauliflower cheese
Serves: 4 as a main, 6 as a side
Prep time: 40 mins Total time: 
Recipe photograph by Ant Duncan
Bacon crumble cauliflower cheese
Recipe by Sarah Cook
This makes a great main course alongside a sharply dressed green salad, or serve as a side to your favourite Sunday roast
Serves: 4 as a main, 6 as a side
Prep time: 40 mins Total time: 
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Nutritional information (As a side)
Calories
415Kcal
Fat
26gr
Saturates
16gr
Carbs
19gr
Sugars
10gr
Fibre
2gr
Protein
24gr
Salt
1.5gr
Sarah Cook
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
Sarah Cook
Sarah, a former food editor, has now been writing and styling recipes for over 10 years. Born in NZ, to Irish-English immigrants, and married to a Polish-Scot, her food is as diverse as her family, with a particular passion for baking mash-ups.
Ingredients
- 700-750g cauliflower florets (about 1 large)
- 850ml milk (whole or semi-skimmed)
- 60g plain flour
- 11⁄4 tsp English mustard powder, or 1 tbsp mustard from a jar
- 75g light mozzarella, roughly grated
- 125g mature cheddar, grated
For the crumble topping
- 3⁄4 x 100g pack smoked cooked crispy bacon
- 100g plain flour
- 50g salted butter, at room temperature
- 50g Parmesan, grated finely
- a large handful of curly or flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Step by step
Get ahead
Assemble and chill for up to 24 hours, or for up to 48 hours with the crumble stored separately – just scatter over to bake.
- Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. When it is boiling fiercely, drop in the cauliflower, then as soon as the water comes back to boiling point, drain the cauliflower well.
- Put the milk, plain flour and 1 teaspoon of the mustard powder in a large saucepan for the cheese sauce. Use a hand whisk to constantly whisk the mixture over a high heat. As the milk begins to steam, the sauce will begin to thicken. Continue until the sauce starts bubbling slowly, then remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the mozzarella and cheddar with some seasoning.
- Arrange the cauliflower in a baking dish (about 23cm square) and pour the sauce over – don’t delay or the sauce will thicken up considerably on cooling.
- For the crumble topping, break 50g of the crispy bacon into pieces and drop into a food processor with the flour and remaining 1⁄4 tsp English mustard powder. Blitz until you have coarse bacon crumbs. Tip into a bowl with the butter and Parmesan and rub the butter through the bacon bits and flour to make a crumbly mixture. Season with pepper and stir through most of the chopped parsley. Roughly chop the remaining 25g of bacon and stir through the crumble, then scatter the topping over the cauliflower.
- To bake, preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Put the cauliflower cheese on a fairly high shelf and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the crumble is golden and crisp, and the cheesy sauce is bubbling. Scatter with the remaining parsley and serve.
