Autumn is a time when you can indulge yourself with fresh fruits and vegetables daily. And given the unique properties of some of them, such a chance is silly not to use. There are many very useful vegetable dishes that, among other things, impress with the simplicity of their preparation. These include, without a doubt, cauliflower in a creamy sauce. There are dozens of different recipes that describe the technique for creating these culinary masterpieces. In support of the above, we can consider several of the most interesting options.
Classic way
Typically, cauliflower in a creamy sauce is used as a full breakfast or a light dinner. It is especially respected by vegetarians and lovers of a healthy diet. For cooking, you will need a minimum set of ingredients: 600 grams of cauliflower, 20 grams of flour, 1 lemon, salt, 300 milliliters of cream, a little sugar and 30 grams of butter.
Cauliflower made in a creamy sauce is extremely simple:
- First, the main product must be processed. To do this, it should be cleaned of leaves and for a few minutes immersed in a pan filled with water with vinegar and salt. This procedure is necessary in order to remove possible insects.
- For work, individual inflorescences will be required, so the head of cabbage must be carefully disassembled. This can be done with your hands.
- Then the cabbage needs to be boiled in a pan with boiling salt water.
- After this inflorescence, you need to throw it in a colander so that all the water can drain.
- To prepare the sauce, first fry the flour in a dry pan.
- Gradually add cream and stir so that there are no lumps.
- Add sugar, butter, salt and a small slice of lemon (at the very end it will need to be removed). Boil the mass, stirring constantly.
- After adding 3 teaspoons of lemon juice, the sauce can be considered fully prepared. It remains only to pour boiled cabbage on them.
The dish turns out to be very tender, and a small sourness in the sauce gives it a special piquancy.
Original addition
In fact, cauliflower in a creamy sauce is just pieces of boiled vegetable, sprinkled with a mass specially prepared for this. It is the composition of the mixture that gives the dish a unique taste. It can be adjusted as you wish. Fans of spicy dishes can take on board the option for which it is necessary: ββ500 grams of frozen or 1 head of fresh cauliflower and very little salt.
For the sauce you will need: 400 milliliters of cream (15%), fresh cucumber, salt, a little greens (basil, dill), 3 cloves of garlic, as well as ground pepper (black and red).
The work takes place in four stages:
- First, the cabbage should be boiled in slightly salted water for only 7 minutes. Previously, it can be disassembled into inflorescences, but it is permissible to do this later.
- Drain and cool cabbage.
- To prepare the sauce, the first thing to do is squeeze the garlic through a press, finely chop the cucumber and chop the greens. After that, all the ingredients need to be mixed well.
- Pour the cooled cabbage inflorescences with the prepared mixture.
Spicy sauce will give the fresh vegetable a pleasant taste and original aroma.
Multicooker Recipe
Having the right equipment available, you can cook any dish. For modern housewives, this is not a problem. Today, almost every home has, for example, a crock-pot. With its help, juicy and aromatic cauliflower in a creamy sauce is very simple. The recipe in this case involves the use of the following components: for 0.5 kilograms of cauliflower - 30 grams of flour and the same amount of butter, 4 cloves, 0.5 multi-cups of cream and twice as much milk, 75 grams of cheese, 3 peas of black pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and 10 grams of salt.
All actions must be performed in a certain sequence:
- The first step is to put the cabbage in the bowl of the multicooker on the grill and, having set the βSteamingβ mode, leave it there for 20 minutes.
- Pour cream with milk into a saucepan and boil, adding pepper, bay leaf and cloves. After that, let them stand for about 15 minutes so that dairy products can be saturated with aromas of spices. At the end, the composition will need to be filtered.
- At this time, you can melt the butter, combine it with flour, and then add the resulting homogeneous mass to milk and bring to a boil.
- Pour grated cheese into the still hot mixture and add the rest of the ingredients according to the recipe. The result should be an astringent, slightly thick mass, similar to semolina.
- In conclusion, the cabbage should be laid in a bowl and sprinkled with plenty of cooked sauce. After that, it remains only to set the βBakingβ mode and time out 35-40 minutes.
Tender cabbage with a pleasant creamy tint can be used as an independent dish or, for example, a good side dish for meat.
Pasta with cabbage in sauce
There is a very interesting way when cauliflower in a creamy sauce in a pan is cooked along with pasta. Of the products you will need: 400 grams of cabbage, 150 milliliters of milk (or cream), salt, 300 grams of pasta (pasta), 90 grams of flour, 40 grams of butter, 100 grams of cheese and herbs.
The preparation of the dish is very simple:
- First, in salted water, you need to cook the paste.
- Cabbage also needs to be boiled. Moreover, the water should also be salty.
- Melt the butter in a pan and fry the flour in it for 30 seconds.
- Add milk (cream), mix thoroughly and warm the resulting mixture for at least a minute.
- Salt, add grated cheese and wait until it is completely dissolved.
- Put the pasta with cauliflower in a pan, mix well and warm the products together for several minutes.
Serving the prepared dish, you need to decorate with greens. You can add a little grated Parmesan cheese if you wish.
Oven baking
No less delicious is cauliflower in a creamy sauce in the oven. Moreover, it is prepared much faster and easier. To begin with, as usual, you need to prepare the necessary components: for 0.5 kilograms of cauliflower - 80 grams of milk, 30 grams of any hard cheese, a tablespoon of flour, 20 grams of butter and the same amount of sour cream, salt and breadcrumbs.
Everything is done very simply:
- Put the boiled cabbage until half cooked on a baking sheet, preliminarily greased with butter.
- Separately, fry the flour in a pan, add milk to it and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Salt the resulting mass, and then put in it sour cream and part of the previously grated cheese. Under the influence of temperature, the mixture should slightly thicken.
- Pour the cabbage with the prepared sauce, sprinkle it on top with cheese and lightly sprinkle with oil, and then bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
After that, fragrant cabbage can be served as a side dish or a separate dish.
Hearty dinner
Cauliflower with cream sauce can be a full dinner if cooked simultaneously with meat and other vegetables. Make it easy. You only need to have on hand: a large head of cabbage, 750 grams of potatoes, 2 eggs, 100 grams of ham, a full glass of cream, a tablespoon of any chopped parsley, 50 grams of grated cheese, salt, a teaspoon of dried spices and ground pepper.
Cooking begins with the processing of products:
- First, washed potatoes must be peeled and cut into thin slices. Then they need to be boiled for 5 minutes in salted water, and then thrown into a colander so that water can drain.
- Gently cut the ham into slices.
- Cabbage is divided into small inflorescences.
- Preheat the oven to 190 degrees.
- Lubricate the form with fat and lay the products in it in layers: potatoes - cabbage - greens - ham.
- Beat eggs with cream, pepper, add salt and pour over the mixture obtained products.
- Sprinkle cheese on top and bake in the oven for 35 minutes.
The dish turns out tasty, aromatic, but very high-calorie. This should be taken into account by those who monitor their weight. The rest can safely have fun.