Somehow this seems to me to be a very English dish - I think its because of the use of mace and boiled onions which seems quaintly old-fashioned. The sauce makes a great alternative to the usual cheese sauce. The onions make it rather sweet but the mace stops it being cloying. Its a lovely Autumn side dish or main dish with some crusty bread.
One word of caution, I used whole mace which I ground myself. The sauce was way too overpowering and I had to redo the sauce reducing the mace by over a half. If using ready ground mace, perhaps it would be the right amount as ground spices lose some of there pungency.
Ingredients
2 onions
1 medium-size cauliflower, cut into florets
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
300 ml (1/2 pint) bechamel sauce
2 teaspoons ground mace
salt and pepper
Method
One word of caution, I used whole mace which I ground myself. The sauce was way too overpowering and I had to redo the sauce reducing the mace by over a half. If using ready ground mace, perhaps it would be the right amount as ground spices lose some of there pungency.
Ingredients
2 onions
1 medium-size cauliflower, cut into florets
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
300 ml (1/2 pint) bechamel sauce
2 teaspoons ground mace
salt and pepper
Method
- Oven temperature: Gas Mark 4/ 180°C/ 350°F
- Preheat the oven. Boil the onions for 15 minutes. In another saucepan, boil the cauliflower florets until tender but firm, about 6 minutes.
- Puree the hard-boiled eggs in a food processor or liquidiser, remove 1 teaspoon and reserve for garnish. Add the onions and process, and then add the béchamel sauce and process again. Season the sauce with the mace and salt and pepper to taste.
- Place the cauliflower florets in an oven-proof dish and spoon the sauce over them. Heat through in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Garnish with the reserved chopped egg and serve.
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