Smoked Cauliflower Cheese Pie
And putting the Allotment 'to bed'
It’s that time of year when I wish I’d had the foresight to collect the wet leaves and bag them up so I can be smug and spread my homemade leave mulch over my allotment… alas, I didn’t and I probably won’t do it this year either. It takes a certain type of commitment to be a gardener that is that well prepared, maybe i’ll become her next year…Probably not.
Instead, I raised my hand in the Allotment committee email to a £££ delivery of well rotted manure, to spread across my beds. Something I AM feeling smug about is all of the cardboard i’ve collected and stored at my storage unit over the past year. I decided that the no-dig method fits my lazy girl approach to allotmenting really well. Plus I can brag about being Organic and ‘letting the earth do what it would naturally’… It’s all good stuff and it works for me, i’m certain that Mick (the grumpy twat that likes to comment on every scrape of my rake and every snip of my secateurs) will have something to say about it.
We’ve still got Kale, Brussels, Leeks and Tomatoes coming and some suspect Celeriac that I think is actually just a disappointing tomato sized root, shielded by a flurry of greenery. Said greenery will however go into a winter salad if that’s the case, yum!
In other news I’ve just signed up for a Riverford veg box, British grown, zero packaging veggies will be delivered to my door every two weeks, while me and my plot have a well earned rest.
Next week i’m dog sitting a miniature long haired sausage dog in a BEAUTIFUL Oxfordshire village, cooking up some beautiful new recipes for you and spreading said shit across my plot, until then, here’s the recipe I promised…
Smoked Cauliflower Cheese Pie
Ingredients
Large Cauliflower
Large brown onion
200g Smoked Cheddar
100g Mature Cheddar
Shop bought shortcrust (defrosted)
1 Egg yolk
Cornish Sea Salt Smoked Flakes
Cornish Sea Salt Really Garlicky
500ml whole milk
30g Butter
40g Plain flour
Floret the cauliflower and cook off in an air fryer or oven for 30 mins with a large pinch of smoked sea salt.
Finely chop and soften the brown onion in butter, on a low heat, until translucent.
Add onion to cauliflower and set to one side.
Line a buttered pie dish with pastry, a pinch of Cornish Sea Salt Really Garlicky and blind bake for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, make a roux with your butter, flour and milk then add in your cheese. Add a scratch of nutmeg and a generous pinch of smoked salt flakes, let that bubble for a few minutes.
Take your pie dish and ladle in a third of your cheese sauce to cover the bottom. Then add your cauliflower and onion mix, pressing it down. Cover with the remaining sauce.
Add the final scrunch of smoked sea salt, believe me, it can take it.
Add a pastry lid and create an air hole in the top, brush with egg yolk and bake for 40 minutes.
Serve up with dark greens like Cavolo Nero and gravy. I used instant gravy granules which I reduced with some old red wine for a few minutes
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