Cauliflower cheese is comfort in a bowl. While there are tons of vegan recipes for cauliflower cheese, when I first made Maggie Wescott’s cauliflower Alfredo sauce the other week I knew this would be a nutritious way forward to enforce this dish with so much more goodness. Cauliflower is rich in vitamins and minerals, fibre, antioxidants and sulphur compounds. These all help sweep up rogue free radicals that can cause oxidation within the body, linked to the development of heart disease, diabetes and cancer amongst others.

The recipe for the Alfredo-style sauce can be found here on Maggie’s wonderful website Alternative Dish and the way to put it all together can be found below.

INGREDIENTS (Serves 2 as a main dish or 4 as a side)

One batch of cauliflower Alfredo made to Maggie’s recipe, see link above

1 medium head of cauliflower

1 medium head of broccoli

1 tbsp olive oil

4-6 tablespoons grated Parmesan-style vegan cheese (Violife prosociano or Asda’s own pre-grated Free From version are both excellent)

Pickled red cabbage

Chopped scallions, chives or fresh herbs of your choice to serve

METHOD

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees C. Cut the broccoli and cauliflower into florets, place in an oven proof dish, drizzle the olive oil over and bake for 20-30 minutes until the florets are soft in the middle and crispy on the edges. You can make your sauce during this time or make it in advance.

Cover the florets evenly with the Alfredo sauce, sprinkle the Parmesan style cheese over the top and put back in the oven for 10 minutes.

Finish off by browning underneath a hot grill (a broiler if you’re in the US!) and serve as a side dish or as the main event. I served ours with a sprinkling of finely chopped scallions and more cruciferous magic, pickled red cabbage; the sweet vinegar and crunch tastes amazing against the soft, velvety sauce and looks pretty as a picture. Enjoy!