Roasted Cauliflower With Welsh Rarebit

I like roasted cauliflower and it is hard not to like cauliflower with cheese sauce.  I decided to change things up by making a Welsh Rarebit.  That is basically a cheese sauce made with wine or beer.

 

Roasted Cauliflower With Welsh Rarebit

1 head of cauliflower
olive oil

2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
salt and pepper
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup beer or white wine
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

Tear off the leaves and cut off the stems until you have a nice pile of flowerettes.  Place them in  an oven proof dish.  Drizzle it with olive oil, stir and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring half way through.  They should just start to brown. 

 

While they are roasting, start the cheese sauce.

Cut up the butter and melt it in a medium sauce pan.  Add the flour and cook over low heat until it thickens and starts to brown.  Pour in the milk and stir until it thickens   I like wine in this better than beer, but use what you've got.
 


When you add the alcohol, (and remember that the alcohol part will cook away and just the flavor will remain so you CAN feed this to your kids) it will separate a bit.  Use a whisk to smooth everything out.

Add the cheese and stir until smooth.  You can make this part a bit ahead.  It will thicken when it stands, but you can warm it up and add a bit more milk or wine to thin it to pouring consistency.

 

Place the finished cauliflower in a bowl and pour the rarebit on top.  Don't let it cool.  Cold cheese sauce is icky.

I served this with a salad of Italian greens with chopped up apples and some raspberry vinaigrette.