Pork with cauliflower-and-courgette cheese

Proper cheese sauce is one of those things that's just so easy to make, there's never any excuse for using packet substitutes (which anyway look and taste a bit weird).  Seeing that cauliflower arrive in the veg box on a cold autumn day just gave me a craving for warming cauliflower cheese, especially knowing that there was still cheese left in the fridge from the creamed chard the other night.

First of all, get your veg cooked - cauliflower just needs about seven minutes in boiling water, and the courgette got  just a couple of minutes in a frying pan.  I've never used courgette in cauliflower cheese before, but I don't want to waste any of the lovely veg that came in the delivery box!  Once they're cooked, transfer to an oven-proof dish.

Now for the cheese sauce.  I've never measured ingredients out for this, just put some flour and a knob of butter in the bottom of a pan.  About this much.

Get it going over a very low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon all the time.  What we want to achieve is melted butter which has absorbed all the flour, so there should be no dry flour left in the pan.

When that's done, add half a pint of milk (skimmed won't work very well, it needs some fat), a handful of grated cheese and some flavourings if you want them - I always use a twist of black pepper, a spoonful of mustard and some capers.

Turn the heat up a little and keep stirring until it's thickened to the texture you want.  Patience is key here - don't turn the heat up too high, it won't make it thicken any quicker.

Once it's done, pour over the veg and cook in the oven at 190C for about half an hour - just long enough to give them a little bit of brown crispiness on top.

I was going to have gammon (my mum used to do gammon with cauliflower cheese when I was a kid) but the supermarket had really nice-looking pork steaks on special offer so I grabbed them instead.  They just needed four minutes on each side in a hot griddle pan.

Financial Verdict

The two pork steaks were only £2.60, and veg, milk, butter and cheese don't cost a lot.  Cheap, warming and delicious!

The Skinny

Cook the veg - seven minutes in boiling water for the cauliflower florets, a couple of minutes each side in a frying pan for the courgette.  Transfer to an oven proof dish.

Make the cheese sauce.  Melt a knob of butter in a saucepan over a low heat along with some flour.  When the butter's all melted and the flour's all been absorbed, add half a pint of milk, a handful of grated cheese, a twist of black pepper and a spoonful each of mustard and capers (if you want to).  Stir over a medium heat until the sauce thickens.

Pour the sauce over the veg and cook in the oven at 190C for half an hour.

Cook the meat and serve.