Cauliflower Baked in Aromatic Milk Sauce

Cauliflower is baked with spicy milk sauce.

Summary

Ingredients

• Cauliflower – 1 head of cabbage
• Milk – 1.5 cups
• Cheddar cheese – 180 g
• Wheat flour – 1 tbsp
• Butter – 20 g + for greasing the mold
• Salt – 2 teaspoon
• Dried chili pepper, flakes – 0.5 teaspoon
• Garlic – 3 cloves
• Bay leaf – 1 pc.
• Ground black pepper – to taste
• Basil – for serving

Instructions

1. Turn on the oven to preheat to 200 degrees.
2. Disassemble the cauliflower into small inflorescences. Boil in salted water for about 4 minutes.
3. While the cabbage is cooking, grease a baking dish with butter.
4. Place the cauliflower in a colander, let the water drain well, and then place the cabbage inflorescences in an oiled mold
5. In a small saucepan, melt 20 g of butter, put garlic, chili flakes, and bay leaf squeezed through a press in a saucepan, cook for about 1 minute.
6. Sprinkle the garlic mixture with flour, stir quickly, cook, stirring occasionally, until the flour is slightly golden brown. Then gradually add milk, stirring the sauce well until creamy, homogeneous. Cook the sauce, stirring occasionally, until the first signs of simmering, about 5 minutes.
7. As soon as the first bubbles appear on the surface of the sauce, turn off the heat under the saucepan, add cheese to the sauce, stir. Taste the sauce, salt, and pepper if necessary. Remove the bay leaf from the sauce. The finished sauce should have a creamy, silky texture.
8. Pour the sauce over the cauliflower blossoms in a baking dish. Place the dish in a preheated oven, bake the cabbage for about 40 minutes, until a golden crust forms on the surface of the casserole.
9. Sprinkle the cooked casserole with chopped basil.