Easy Cheesy

After a strenuous day in the garden, a chore that neither of us loves, My Beloved and I are looking for something quick and hearty to eat, with minimum fuss. This recipe for Cheese Frosted Cauliflower is one I've had for years and always enjoy, especially when I'm not inspired to make cheese sauce from scratch. The whole thing uses only one paring knife, one oven pan and one pot, plus a little bowl - easy cleanup. A wedge of this makes either a nice side dish or a bigger wedge is great for a light lunch or dinner.

Here's what to do:

Cut away the extra leaves from a head of cauliflower and core out the stem a bit so it all cooks at the same speed. Steam the cauliflower in a covered pot, about 10 minutes (depends on the size of the head). While the cauliflower is steaming, mix about 1 TBS of mayo with a like amount of mustard (I vary the kind of mustard depending on my mood - sometimes ballpark mustard strikes my fancy, other times nothing will do but fancy pants Dijon) until blended. You can vary the amounts of those two ingredients depending on how mustardy you like it. Slice some cheddar cheese - you can grate it if you want but I usually just slice the cheese into 1/8" thick slices, using my coring knife again.

I line a small oven pan with foil when I'm feeling exceptionally lazy and don't want to clean the pan. Turn on the oven to 350 degrees F (or you can nuke this in the microwave if you use a non-metal pan and don't line it with foil). In any case, once the duty knife pierces the cauliflower easily, remove it from the steamer, place it in the pan, slather it with your mustard mixture and top it fanwise with the cheese. Slide it into the oven just until the cheese melts, about 5 minutes.

Nutty, savory and rich - easy and cheesy and quick!