Vegan Cauliflower & Walnut Cheese, tomato topped!

This Vegan Cauliflower & Walnut Cheese has all the making of traditional cauliflower cheese with a great added crunch and protein from the delicious walnuts.  Topped with sliced tomatoes, it makes a very attractive dish.  It actually seems a shame to cut into it! ????

But when you do, you can see that the cauliflower keeps its form and has a lovely coating of sauce.

In a dish like this, the sauce is very important – Too much and too runny and you lose the main ingredients. Not enough sauce and you will end up with a dry dish.

So it’s also important to make sure that you use an oven dish that fits the ingredients well – Too shallow and they will spill over. Too big and the ingredients will spread too much and dry out/burn in the oven. I used a pie dish that measured 5½ cm / 2¼ inches deep and 22cm / 8¾ inches wide at the top.

Please note that this dish will serve 2 as a main meal (calories based on 2 servings) or 4 as a side dish.

Cauliflower

Cauliflower, it seems, is one of those vegetables that you either love or hate. So if you do hate it, just use a vegetable that you love.

But, love or hate, you cannot knock the nutrients it has – with only 23 calories per 100g of raw cauliflower, it is rich in vitamin C, has 2.3g of fibre, and 1.8g of protein. It also contains Potassium, Iron, and Calcium.

Read the whole list of nutrients and health benefits here.

How to Make Vegan Cauliflower & Walnut Cheese

Note – You will need 1 quantity of Vegan Easy White Sauce which I have added into the time for this recipe (however, this only takes 15 minutes to make and can be made ahead)

If you premake the sauce and store it in the fridge, remove the sauce from the fridge and bring it to room temperature before mixing it with other ingredients and allow an extra 5 minutes in the oven.

Equipment you will need

Kitchen scales

sharp knife

Measuring spoons

Large saucepan

Large bowl

Oven proof dish / pie dish

Step 1 – Preheat the oven to 200℃ fan/220℃/425°F/Gas 7.

Step 2 – Place the cauliflower in a saucepan and cover with freshly boiled water and add a good pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, until the cauliflower has softened when pierced with a knife.

Step 3 – Whilst the cauliflower is simmering, break the walnut halves into smaller pieces. Walnuts are soft, thus it’s easy to do by hand.

Step 4 – Place the quantity of white sauce, grated cheese, and walnut pieces into a large bowl and mix together. It’s so much easier to do it this way to ensure even mixing than to do in the oven/pie dish.

I used Violife Epic Mature cheese as you need a stronger flavour when mixing cheese in a sauce.

Step 5 – Drain the cauliflower well and add to the bowl and mix in to coat evenly.

Step 6 – Transfer to an oven proof dish and decorate with the tomato slices. Sprinkle over the oregano and grind some salt and pepper over the top.

Step 7 – Place in the top part of the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the tomatoes have softened. If you like your tomatoes a little more cooked and brown, place under a hot grill for a few minutes after the 15 minutes in the oven (not included in recipe time).

If you premade your sauce and stored it in the fridge, remove the sauce from the fridge and bring it to room temperature before mixing it with other ingredients and allow an extra 5 minutes in the oven.

Step 8 – Serve with a salad or green vegetables like my green beans with sesame seeds.

I would love to know when you have made this dish, so please leave a comment in the comments box below. ????????

Happy Cauli Cheese making and ENJOY! ????