Ultimate caulifower cheese

It was Friday and when asked what the man of the house wanted for dinner, the reply was "a change from salad vegetables and ham - how about something with cauliflower?"
"Absolutely", I said.
I have made this recipe before - many times - and somehow (a pie being the exception), it is one of those great comfort dishes - especially good on a wet and windy day in the Capital.
The addition of the horseradish sauce and mustard gives quite a kick to a (possibly) otherwise bland dish.
Actually I am completely over this summer. Apart from a couple of days the weather here has been dreadful. It has been a good time to go to the movies or sit and read lots of books. But constant wind and rain with overcast skies is not good for my vegetable garden or my Vitamin D levels. My poor little cauliflower and silver beet plants have been battered to bits (perhaps beyond growing any higher than 10 cm). And I am getting just a bit mad about the lack of sun here!
I think we all know cauliflower can be cooked very badly - i.e. to a grey mush! For this recipe Gordon blanches the cauliflower but I like to steam it for about 2-3 minutes. I added broccoli to my dish too, adds a bit of colour to an otherwise all over cream dish. My breadcrumbs were made by blitzing a few sandwich slices of Burgen's Soy and Linseed bread - our favourite at the moment.
The Ultimate Cauliflower Cheese is another Gordon Ramsay recipe I found on line in 2009 (oops not intentional for it to rhyme!)
I used my deep Anchor Pyrex dish. It is the perfect size for this recipe and one of those old faithful dishes in the kitchen I would hate to break.

As he states, it can be adapted to suit your tastes. Perfect to leave it as a vegetarian dish. Or add some chopped chives through the sauce and/or sprinkle the top with crispy bacon or crumbed pancetta for a meat lovers tasty variation.

Ultimate cauliflower cheese

Serves 4 - 6
Ingredients

1 large cauliflower – trimmed and cut into florets

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

25g butter

25g plain flour

½ tsp dry English mustard

300ml milk

75g medium or strong cheddar, grated

1 heaped tbsp  creamed horseradish

Pinch cayenne pepper

25g Gruyere or parmesan cheese

50g coarse breadcrumbs (I used fresh)

Method

Blanch the cauliflower florets in a pan of well salted water for 2-3 minutes (or steam), until just tender.  Drain and refresh in iced water to stop the cooking process.  Tip into a colander and drain again.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and mustard. Blend into a paste and cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly for about 2 minutes, to cook out the rawness of the flour.

Gradually whisk in the milk and continue to stir for about 5 minutes until thickened to a smooth sauce.

Add the Cheddar, horseradish, cayenne and some seasoning and stir until the cheese has melted.

Remove from the heat, taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

Mix together the Gruyere or parmesan and the breadcrumbs. Arrange the cauliflower florets in a lightly buttered baking dish. Spoon the sauce over the top, then sprinkle the cheese and breadcrumbs mixture.

Bake 20- 25 minutes until the top is golden. Serve hot from the oven.