Cauliflower cheese

Cauliflower cheese is to the English table what mac and cheese is to Americans. To make the cauli dish, you begin with a head of white cauliflower, boil the florets, and pack them in a buttered heatproof pudding basin (these are usually white crockery, narrow on the bottom, much deeper then they are wide), with the stems pointing toward the center.

Loosely cover the bowl and set it in a warm oven. Meanwhile, make a bechamel sauce and add lots of sharp cheddar (scraps of cheese are fine). Turn the cauliflower out onto a serving dish -- it looks like a cauliflower! -- and spoon the sauce over the top. Send it into a hot oven to brown the top and serve.

I know the dish well because when I lived in London some years ago, every house I went to served it. I was fascinated that something really quite bland had become such a favorite. (But then, you could surely say that about many macs and cheese.)

Yesterday's Daily Mail newspaper had a story on the new rainbow heads of cauliflower -- England is just getting them, though they've been in our markets for years. Here is the opening sentence: "Cauliflower cheese will never be the same again."

For the sake of the British table, let's hope not.