Jamie Oliver's best cauliflower cheese recipeDrizzle and Dip

I stumbled across Jamie Oliver’s recipe for the best cauliflower and broccoli cheese the other day and felt compelled to give it a go. What struck me as interesting was the method he used to make it. He incorporates the broccoli into the cheese sauce and doesn’t pre-blanch the cauliflower which I always do.

It takes longer in the oven, but I like the idea of one of my favourite vegetables roasting under a blanket of sauce for an hour. Adding broccoli just somehow makes it seem healthier.

* Cooks notes ~ I used a combination of Gruyere and mature Cheddar and I sprinkled some Parmesan on top of the crumbs instead of almonds. This crunchy topping totally makes this dish. The cauliflower was lovely and firm even after an hour in the oven, and I found it less watery than a pre-blanched version. I liked the broccoli, but next time I will make it without. use whatever cheese you fancy and in whatever quantities you like. I used less cheese than the recipe and it was still very tasty.

This was one of the less pretty dishes I have had to shoot in a while. The slight green colour of the sauce is not that appealing looking, so I am not sure I captured it too well. It was quite delicious so I had to share it here.

Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver’s cauliflower and broccoli cheese:

Prep Time:30

Cook Time:1

Total Time:1 30

Ingredients

50 g butter
60 g flour
500 ml milk
2 cloves garlic crushed (optional)
1 small head of broccoli about 400g - fresh or frozen, cut into florets
1 medium head of cauliflower about 900g
1 T Dijon mustard
pinch of nutmeg
70 g cheese mature Cheddar, Gruyere
1/4 cup breadcrumbs mixed with a glug of olive oil
2 sprigs of fresh thyme leaves removed

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 180 C / 350F
Make a white sauce with the butter, flour, and milk (adding the garlic at the beginning) and whisk until it is smooth and the flour is cooked through. Season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg.
Stir through the Dijon mustard and add the broccoli.
Continue to cook this for about 20 minutes and until the broccoli is softened and breaking apart (I cooked it with the lid and at a very low temperature)
Add the cheese and allow this to melt in.
Using a handheld blender process the broccoli and cheese sauce until smooth adding a little extra milk if necessary.
In an appropriately sized oven-proof dish, arrange the head of cauliflower that you have broken into large florets.
Pour over the cheese sauce.
Mix the olive oil with the bread crumbs and thyme leaves and scatter this over the top.
Bake in the oven for 1 hour until golden brown.
I added a small handful of grated parmesan about 10 minutes before the end. You could also add the almonds as Jamie does

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13 Comments

Hi Sam,
I saw Jamie preparing this gratin and I was surprised too but like you, I was so intrigued that I had to give it a go too and it really is delicious!
I like your topping version more though.
Cheers,
Lia.

Thanks Lia, he always seems to manage to add an interesting twist.

Hmmm. Broccoli into the cheese sauce. i can’t see my “I HATE ANYTHING GREEN” g’child eating any of this. But it sounds good. Maybe I’ll try it with roasted yams added to the cheese before pouring over the cauliflower. Or how about oven roasted yellow beets processed into the cheese sauce. Thanks for the post. It’s an interesting idea.

Wonderful gratin, I like the sound of the crunchy topping!

I adore Jamie’s Home recipes because the y re so simple but always turn out wonderful. I have tried this recipe before and used spinach in place of broccoli in the cheese sauce; both turned out great. Have you seen his one with frozen veggies? It looks just as good but half the piece!

I’m a huge cauliflower fan, so this is a must. Love that combination of cheese, and I happen to have both. yay. Pinned.

It is in the oven as we speak. I also saw the one with the frozen vegies, I have made a mix of both. Looking forward to tasting and hopefully surprising the others with the variation.

So I watched Save with Jamie and decided to give the cauliflower, broccoli cheese a go. I got home late and cut corners by not blitzing the broccoli. So how bad can that be! Delicious