Healthy Cauliflower & Bacon Bake – Tasty Bring & Braai side

It’s braai season in South Africa and it’s time to invite all of your friends or be invited yourself. Here, we love making it easy for ourselves and bringing our own sides to share with everybody else. One dish you might find is either a potato bake or something similar made with cauliflower and broccoli. Our Healthy Cauliflower & Bacon Bake will hit the spot just right and be the regular occurrence at this and every braai in the future.

Cauliflower adds a light carrier for all of the other delicious flavours like crunchy bacon and your homemade cheese sauce. Nutmeg, black pepper, garlic and onions provide your with familiar treats with every bite. The double bake and broil makes sure that everything is cooked evenly and gives a crunchy top for some texture.

This recipe is also so easy that you can double it if you have a big group of people to feed. There is also nothing stopping you from adding some colour with broccoli in the mix and chives on top. When you are traveling with your Healthy Cauliflower & Bacon Bake, do the first bake at home and just do the broil and browning at the venue just before serving.

Your next South African bring & braai will be even more amazing with this Healthy Cauliflower & Bacon Bake. Bake, bring and enjoy!

Healthy Cauliflower & Bacon Bake Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Recipe by Carla Zinkfontein Course: Side, MainCuisine: GlobalDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

17

minutes

Baking Time

18

minutes

Total time

42

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1 cauliflower, cut into large florets

• 1 cup 1 shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided

• ¼ cup ¼ finely shredded parmesan cheese

• 1½ cups 1½ unsweetened cashew or almond milk

• 4 4 slices nitrate free bacon, chopped and cooked (optional)

• 2 tbsp 2 ghee

• 2 tbsp 2 gluten free flour, or Arrowroot starch

• 1 1 finely chopped yellow onion

• 3 cloves 3 minced fresh garlic

• ¼ tsp ¼ freshly ground nutmeg

• 2 tbsp 2 chopped fresh parsley leaves

• olive oil, or avocado oil cooking spray

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

• Preheat your oven to 205°C. Spray an 20x25cm oven-safe serving dish with Spray & Cook.
• Fill a large pot with about 5cm of salted water. Set up your steamer basket and add in the cauliflower florets. Place the lid on and steam for about 5-7 minutes, or just until the cauliflower is tender but still has a crunch. Check with a fork. Then drain all water, and set aside
• Place a medium skillet over medium-high heat, and melt your ghee.
• Add in onions and sauté until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add in the garlic and flour, stirring constantly cook for 1 minute.
• Gradually pour in your milk, add nutmeg, sea salt and pepper to taste (about ¼ teaspoon or so of each). Cook stirring constantly to dissolve all lumps, until mixture starts to thicken, about 3 minutes.
• Stir in ½ cup cheddar and all parmesan cheese, continue stirring until completely melted.
• Ladle about ⅓ of this cheese sauce into the baking dish.
• Layer in your steamed (completely drained of moisture by now) cauliflower and sprinkle bacon on top.
• Spoon over the remaining cheese sauce, and spread as evenly as you can.
• Sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup of cheddar cheese and bake, uncovered for about 15 minutes in your preheated oven.
• For extra golden topping, broil during the final 2-3 minutes of baking time.
• Allow to cool for several minutes, garnish with fresh parsley and serve warm.

Notes

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