Thursday, February 23, 2012

Cajun Cauliflower Casserole



This is really good.


It's kind of like eating a bite of straight-up Rotel cheese dip rolled in buttered breadcrumbs.


(With a sneaky layer of steamed cauliflower on the bottom...)


This is the part you don't have to advertise...shhhhhh

But make lots of racket about this bit.


Think anyone will like the buttered breadcrumb layer? 

Cauliflower should never taste this good. 



Cajun Cauliflower Casserole
Serves 6

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
6 green onions (green part only), sliced into 1/4" rounds
5 tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
4 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup Ro-Tel tomatoes wiht chiles, drained
1 cup panko (breadcrumbs)

Steam cauliflower until crisp-tender.  Drain well and place in greased 8" x 8" baking dish.

Saute green onions in 3 tablespoons of the butter until soft.  Whisk in flour and salt, blending flour well.  Add milk; stir until thick.  Place onion-flour mixture in a blender (or food processor fitted with steel blade); add cheese, tomatoes, and onions.  Process until smooth.

Pour cheese mixture over cauliflower; poke and prod a bit with a spoon to get the cheese to ooze down to the cauliflower.  No need to stir.

Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and mix with the breadcrumbs.  Scatter buttered breadcrumbs on top of the cheese mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, until browned and bubbly. 


Slightly adapted from:  Lone Star Eats:  A Gathering of Recipes from Great Texas Cookbooks

4 comments:

Carrie B said...

I love the Cajun flavors. I make a Cauliflower casserole often as an alternative to macaroni and cheese. I HAVE to try this!

Caneel said...

Hmmm ... may need to give this one a try. I really dislike cauliflower. I don't hate it like a very tiny number of other veggies. I try so hard to like it but I just really don't. Maybe this will work.

Caneel said...

Hmmm ... may need to give this one a try. I really dislike cauliflower. I don't hate it like a very tiny number of other veggies. I try so hard to like it but I just really don't. Maybe this will work.

Caneel said...

And so why did that comment double post?? Interesting!