3 Cheese Fast-baked Cauliflower

Great for a quick fix side dish when you've already got the oven on.

I like quick to throw together side dishes and I especially like being able to use the oven while it's already warm from baking something else. This recipe combines both of my likes into a cheesy cauliflower side dish good with roast chicken, pot roast, or panade.

I deliberately don't include Thanksgiving in this list because between the bird and MA's Make Ahead Irish Mashed Potato Casserole there are enough white foods on my plate. I prefer more colorful side dishes like Colorful Roasted Squash, Potato & Pepper or Cranberry Pecan Green Beans. However, if you like cauliflower and especially if you've got some in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share, this dish finishes quickly and tastes great.

I took a bunch of photos of steam and couldn't pick one. Choosy bloggers choose gif.

I made it for lunch the other day while I was baking cookies and making soup, and decided after the first bite that it was blog-worthy. We don't get much cauliflower in the farm share which is pretty good, because the males in the household aren't big fans. Indian food is the best way to enjoy cauliflower they say, and I am a big aloo gobi fan so I'd agree.  In fact, this will be the first cauliflower recipe in my Cauliflower Recipes collection (considering I've got 8 recipes for kohlrabi I think that's saying a lot).

3 Cheese Fast-baked Cauliflower

4 cups chopped cauliflower florets

¼ cup water

1 Tablespoon butter

¼ cup shredded gouda cheese

⅓ cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 Tablespoons crumbled gorgonzola cheese

freshly ground pepper and a pinch of salt

Preheat the oven (please, have it on for another purpose--such a waste for 15 minutes) to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine cauliflower and water in a microwave safe container and cook on 100% power for 3 minutes until slightly softened. Drain well. Toss with butter. Place half the cauliflower in an oven safe dish (bonus points for Polish pottery), top with ½ of the shredded cheeses. Repeat layers. Top with gorgonzola. Bake for 15 minutes until cheese is melted and starting to brown. Add a couple grinds of pepper and a pinch of salt before serving.

Behind the scenes--it was a sunny lunchtime when I made and ate this dish, so I used a piece of black foam core to reduce the glare.

This post is shared on Simple Supper Tuesday, What's Cookin' Wednesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Clever Chicks Blog Hop