Cauliflower in Cheese Sauce

Posted on 21 September 2025 by SJPONeill

It’s been around a year since we started with Wonky Box for our main fruit and vege supplies. It’s been around SIX years since I wrote anything even remotely foodie – just with stuff going on…so…onwards and upwards…

We started with the small weekly Wonky Box but were paying proportionately more in postage so switched to a medium mixed box every fortnight. Wonky Box doesn’t deliver rurally – not to us anyways – so we get it delivered to a local office in town where we (usually) remember to pick it up.

Wonky Box distributes fruit and vegetables that for some reason don’t make the grade for commerical use, e.g. too small, too big, funny shape, etc. It might be, might be, cheaper to buy the same items from the supermarket but, to be honest, half of it is stuff that I would never think of buying even if if it was on rural Aotearoa supermarket shelves.

So anyway, the arrival of each box every two weeks is like the start of a two week kitchen challenge where everything from the previous box has to be consumed – or turned into something edible in the freezer – before the next box arrives.

I’m kinda lagging a bit this period as I have been working out of town and gotten a bit lazy and tempted by the big city (well, Rotorua, anyway) lights and fast food attractions. There was still two cauliflowers and a broccoli in the fridge on Friday along with half a bag of brussel sprouts.

A quick google got me here, to a fast and simple recipe cauliflower and cheese recipe from food.com….

The Makings:

One head of cauliflower (toss in some broccoli or sprouts as well if you want)
Two tablespoons of butter or oil
Two tablespoons of flour
a cup of milk
salt and black pepper to season
A pinch of nutmeg

The Making

Remove the leaves from the cauliflower, rinse it well and then cut out the core. Cut the rest into bite-size chunks and steam on the range or in the microwave. Drain the cauliflower and place into a deepish baking dish.

Meanwhile, melt the butter or oil in a saucepan, over low heat; and add the flour a bit at a time to prevent lumps and stir with a wooden spoon (note to self: get a wooden spoon) to make a smooth paste.

Cook the mixture gently for a minute, then take the pan off the heat and stir in the milk, a little at a time.

Return the pan to the heat and stir most of the grated cheese into the saucepan to melt. Season it with pinches of the salt, pepper and nutmeg and let it cook on low for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When the sauce has melted, pour over the cauliflower and sprinkle the reserved cheese on top. Place under the grill for a few minutes and until the top starts to bubble and brown.

It’s zero waste as Mr V and Star get the cauli core and leaves. I dice the cauli into smaller chunks than the recipe says and steam it while I am preparing the sauce. Prep and cooking time is around 20 minutes so long as the element is hot enough to faciltiate the cheese combining into the sauce. I found a can of plant sausages in a cupboard and that formed the accompaniment to sauce and cauli.

Lessons:

Hotter element combines the cheese better.
Deeper dish mean better sauce coverage.
A pinch of nutmeg is all you need.
Plant sausages are bland but nice and filling.

People keep asking “Is Wonky Box worth it?” We think so, it certainly works for us…that might be different for other households…if in doubt, maybe just give it a try…? And use this code 6YCXST for 25% off your first order…

Garlic Shrimp on cauliflower mash

Posted on 3 March 2018 by SJPONeill

A bit fuzzy 😦

Sugar Soil sowed the seed of this recipe a while ago but for some reason – possibly trying to work out the difference between prawn and shrimp – I stumbled across some other similar recipes that I amalgamated…sadly, and I’m normally pretty good at this now, I didn’t note the original sources….

I’m amazed at the broad range of things that we can do with the ever so humble cauliflower – and I need to pre-make a batch of cauliflower buffalo bites for late night munchie attacks – and this one is another quick and easy winner…

Ingredients:

Cauliflower Mash:

1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups Vegetable Stock

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons of coconut butter

2 teaspoons of fresh rosemary

1/3 cup of vegetarian Parmesan ‘cheese’

Garlic Shrimp:

500 grams of raw shrimp, shelled and de-veined

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 slices bacon

1/3 Cup red wine

1/2 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes

a pinch of dried oregano

Sea Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper, to taste

Directions:

Place the cauliflower florets in a medium sized saucepan with chicken broth and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to medium and cover, allowing to cook for 15-20 minutes or so, or until the cauliflower is very tender and easily mashed.

Once the cauliflower is tender and cooked through, pour off any excess stock that remains and reserve.

Using a food processor, puree the cauliflower with the coconut oil.

Add the parmesan ‘cheese’, rosemary, salt and pepper and mix well.

If needed, add a drizzle of the reserved broth if the cauliflower is too dense. Set aside.

In a large saute pan, cook the bacon until it’s crispy.

Set the bacon aside on paper towels until cool, then chop into small pieces. Set aside.

In the bacon drippings, add the onion and cook over medium high heat until softened.

Add the minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and oregano, and saute for about a minute, stirring frequently. Stir in the red wine.

Cook a minute or two, then add the shrimp.

Cook, stirring frequently to turn the shrimp, until the shrimp are pink and opaque on both sides.

Place the shrimp and sauce over the mashed cauliflower and top with crumbled bacon.

Season with salt and pepper and garnish with fresh oregano.

It’s pretty hard to go wrong with this one. It makes enough for two decent-size servings with enough of the mash left over for another meal.

P80115-212052

This is the left over mash the following night, with rissoles made from some left-over quorm and a pack of vegetarian mince I bought on a whim from the Taumarunui New World. I mixed the remaining bacon into the mash before I reheated it…

Cauliflower Buffalo Bites

Posted on 23 November 2017 by SJPONeill

The lowly cauliflower strikes again into the hallowed territory of binge TV snack food…I’ve been unable to source the original recipe and there are lots of variations on this theme out there in the culinary googleverse…

Two hours before starting this, I put a chunk of venison steak into the sous vide.

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower chopped into florets

1/2 cup of milk (any unsweetened kind or a not-milk will do)

1/2 cup of water

3/4 cup of flour

2 teaspoons of garlic powder

2 teaspoons of onion powder

1 teaspoon of paprika

1/4 teaspoon of sea salt

1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper

Directions

Preheat your oven to 230 Celcius.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, water, milk, garlic powder, paprika, onion powder, salt and pepper.

Add the cauliflower florets and mix until well-coated – make sure you get the mix well into the florets themselves .

Spread evenly onto the cookie sheets so the florets are not touching .

Bake for 15- 20 minutes , flipping once.

Remove from the oven and set aside.

Wing sauce

2 tablespoons of butter

3 tablespoons of vinegar

1 tablespoons of water

A pinch of salt

1/2 cup of your favourite hot sauce (I used some old chili sauce that had been in the fridge a long time)

Directions

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, hot sauce, vinegar, water, and salt.

Add the baked cauliflower and toss to coat with the sauce, again making sauce the mix gets rights into the florets.

Spread the florets evenly onto the cookie sheets and pop back in the oven for another 20-30 minutes until crispy (flipping once).

Don’t get some engrossed in The Punisher that you forget about them and they come out slightly scorched.

Let sit for a few minutes before serving.

I took the venison out of the sous vide and sliced it into chunks. If I had thought about it at the time, I could have crumbed them and give them a quick sizzle in a hot skillet…of even foregone the crumbs and gone straight to the skillet. This would have added a nice golden tinge to the meat…

I served them together as finger food on the same plate – see fuzzy pic above – very filling and very spicy in a good way…one head of cauli would make a decent snack serving for two people…

Another way of tricking your kids into veges…