Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce
April 9th, 2011 in Sides by Julia Volhina
Total cooking time: 30min
Adding a sauce will make almost any food more interesting, that is why sauces were invented after all, and they are good not only with meats. Vegetables may use some sauce help as well.
So here it goes: cook boiled (yes simply like this!) cauliflower and pour white sauce over it – you will get delicious dish, not a boring vegetables.
I came by this simple recipe while looking though old cook book released probably even before I was born (ironical enough its title translated from russian is “Modern homemade cuisine”) and I liked it. I think, you will find some more recipes adopted from this book later in this blog.
Ingredients:
- Cauliflower head (medium size 1.5lb-2lb)
- 2 eggs (you will need only egg yolks)
- 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons of butter
- Cream of tartar
- Salt
How to prepare, step-by-step:
-
Prepare ingredients: cream of tartar, even though it gives this recipe special flavor, can be skipped if you don’t have it:
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 1 -
Start with cauliflower: separate cauliflower head into florets of similar size, put into pot with salted water for about 20 mins (just soaking not boiling):
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 2 -
Then drain water, rinse cauliflower florets under running water. Fill cooking pot again and put it on the burner over moderate heat and bring to boil, then salt to taste:
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 3 -
Boil cauliflower until soft but not over cooked (10-15 mins), then cover with a lid and drain water (keep about 1 – 1.5 cups of water where cauliflower was boiling, you will need it for sauce), set pot aside:
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 4 -
Now it is time for sauce. Put sauce pan on moderate low heat and melt 1 – 1.5 tablespoons of butter in it:
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 5 -
Add 3 tablespoons of flour and start mixing with spatula immediately, don’t let it burn:
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 6 -
Then start slowly pouring warm water in which cauliflower was boiling (about ¼ of cup), don’t forget to stir:
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 7 -
Continue stirring, make sure you break all lumps if any appeared before you continue (I find my silicone spatula extremely helpful for that):
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 8 -
Then slowly mix in remaining ¾ cup of water from boiled cauliflower, bring sauce to simmer and keep it simmering for about 5 mins (stir!):
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 9 -
Season with cream of tartar and salt if needed; continue cooking on light simmer constantly stirring until sauce becomes as thick as heavy cream (or thicker if you like), that may tike 5-10 mins:
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 10 -
Then remove sauce pan from the burner and stir in about 1 – 1.5 tablespoons of butter:
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 11 -
Separate egg yolks from egg whites (read here for tips how to), by the way you will not need egg whites for this recipe, check here for recipes which use them:
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 12 -
Whisk egg yolks in (reminder: by now sauce should not be on the burner anymore!):
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 13 -
And whisk more:
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 14 -
There was no real need for this step, but I just couldn’t hide this picture 🙂 :
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 15 -
Arrange cauliflower you boiled earlier on the plate and pour sauce over it:
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce Recipe: Step 16 -
And serve with your choice of main dish (at this picture boiled cauliflower with white sauce and pork schnitzels):
Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce
Nice recipe! I tried this today and it came out really well. However I had to reduce the cooking time of the cauliflower to about 15 minutes in total or it would have been overcooked. What is the reason that you boil the cauliflower twice? You mention that you cook it first for 20 minutes then drain the water and boil for another 10-15 minutes (total cooking time 30-35 min). I wasn’t quite sure why this second step is needed so I only boiled it once.
I guess my bad english played a joke on me, in step 2 you need to just soak cauliflower in salted water, the boiling is only step 4 and it is for 10-15 mins. So in total cauliflower is being boiled for 10-15 mins only.
Let me correct the text in recipe to make sure it relay this properly.
And thank you for pointing it out to me, it is hard to not make mistakes when writing in not native language.