cauliflower cheese pie

Cauliflower cheese gets the Ottolenghi treatment in this delicious recipe for curried cauli-cheese filo pie. Comfort food at its finest. Recipe from Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love by Noor Murad and Yotam Ottolenghi (Ebury Press, £25), photograph by Elena Heatherwick &nbsp;

Ottolenghi&#8217;s curried cauliflower cheese filo pie

cauliflower,

tsp mild curry powder

olive oil

salt

plain flour

whole milk

garlic cloves, crushed

1½ tbsp English mustard

pastry

tbsp parsley

lemon

You’ll also need

23cm springform cake tin

Heat the oven to 180°C fan/gas 6. Line the bottom and sides of the 23cm springform cake tin with baking parchment.

Put the cauliflower on a large, parchment-lined baking tray and toss with the curry powder, half the oil, ½ tsp salt and a good grind of pepper. Roast for about 20 minutes until cooked through and lightly coloured. Set aside and turn the oven temperature down to 170°C fan/gas 5.

Meanwhile, make the béchamel. Put the cubed butter in a medium saucepan on a medium-high heat and, once melted, whisk in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes – it should start to smell nutty (like popcorn). Turn the heat down to medium and slowly add the milk a little at a time, whisking continuously to prevent any lumps, until incorporated and the sauce is smooth. Cook, whisking often, for about 7-8 minutes until thickened slightly. Off the heat, stir in the garlic, mustard, cheese and ½ tsp salt until the cheese has melted.

Keep your filo sheets under a damp tea towel to prevent them from drying out. In a bowl, combine the melted butter and the remaining 1½ tbsp oil and keep to one side.

Working one sheet at a time, brush the exposed side of the filo with the butter mixture and drape it into your prepared tin (buttered side up), pushing it down gently to fit. Continue in this way with the next filo sheet, brushing it with butter and then laying it over the bottom sheet, rotating it slightly so the overhang drapes over the sides at a different angle. Do this with all 6 sheets.

Spoon half the béchamel into the base and top with the roasted cauliflower florets. Spoon over the remaining béchamel, then crimp up the overhang so it creates a messy ‘scrunched-up’ border around the edges, leaving the centre of the pie exposed.

Brush the top of the filo border with the remaining butter mixture, then transfer the tin to a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes.

Using a tea towel to help you, carefully release the outer circle of the springform tin, then return the pie to the oven for another 20-25 minutes, or until the sides are nicely coloured and everything is golden and bubbling. Leave to settle for 15 minutes.

Top the pie with the parsley and lemon zest and serve warm.

A comforting savoury vegetarian pie of cauliflower, spinach and cheddar cheese in a hash brown potato crust

Cauliflower and Cheese Pie

potatoes

egg (beaten)

Tablespoon all-purpose flour

Tablespoon cooking oil

cauliflower (coarsely chopped)

onion

garlic (minced)

sage

poultry seasoning

Cheddar cheese

eggs (beaten)

almond milk ((or milk of your choice))

baby spinach

salt and pepper

Shred the potatoes with either a food processor or a grater. Place the grated potato in a sieve and rinse with cool water to remove as much of the potato starch as possible. After rinsing sprinkle the potato shreds with salt and mix throughout. The salt will help to draw the excess moisture from the potatoes. Let the potatoes sit for 5 to 10 mins, then squeeze them tightly to remove the water. This can also be done with a cheese cloth if you have one. Transfer the potatoes to a medium bowl, add the beaten egg and flour and season with salt and pepper then mix well.

Heat your oven to 400℉ and grease the bottom and sides of your pie pan with butter. Beginning in the middle of the pan, add a couple of spoonfuls of the potato mixture and begin to spread it out on the bottom of the pan building a thin, even layer building outwards to the edges of the pan and then up the sides to form a ‘crust’.

Place the pie pan in the oven and let it bake for 30 minutes. Remove the pie pan from the oven, then cover the top of the pie pan with a pie crust protector to prevent the top edge of the crust from burning as it finishes baking. If you don’t have a pie crust protector don’t worry (I don’t either), you can just use strips of tin foil folded over the edges and around the pie to protect it. Put the pie back in the oven and back for another 15 minutes.

For the crust

Prepare the cauliflower by cutting it into small bite sized florets, and chop the baby spinach into small bite sized pieces.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add the cooking oil, cauliflower, onion and garlic to the pan. Cook while stirring frequently to prevent burning for about 10 minutes, or until the onions are translucent and the cauliflower softened. Add the chopped spinach, sage and the poultry seasoning and cook for 5 more minutes, mixing the spinach into the cauliflower to make sure it is all wilted.

For the filling:

Reduce the oven heat to 375℉.

Place 1/3 of the shredded cheese into the pie crust and spread across the bottom. Add 1/2 of the cauliflower mixture on top of the cheese and spread it out evenly and pack it down. Add 1/3 of the cheese and spread across the cauliflower. Top with the rest of the cauliflower mixture, spread it and pat it into the pan, then top with the remaining cheese.

Top 2 cauliflower cheese pie recipes from across the web

The most viewed cauliflower cheese pie recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Ottolenghi’s curried cauliflo...

Cauliflower and Cheese Pie

Top 2 cauliflower cheese pie recipes from across the web

The most viewed cauliflower cheese pie recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Ottolenghi&#8217;s curried cauliflo...

Cauliflower and Cheese Pie

The most viewed cauliflower cheese pie recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Ottolenghi’s curried cauliflo...