I enjoy making a bit of a fuss about cheese sauce. The difference between a carelessly put together sauce and one made with care and love is astounding. Taking the trouble to flavor the milk with bay, clove, and onion, allowing the sauce to come together slowly to give its ingredients time to get know one another, and enriching it with a little cream will result in a sauce of twice the standing of one seasoned only with speed and sloppiness. There is much humble satisfaction in a simple dish, carefully made.

　　

Ingredients

enough for 4 as a side dish, 2 to 3 as a main

　　milk – 4 cups (a liter)

　　a bay leaf

　　a small onion

　　cloves – 2

　　butter – 4 tablespoons (50g)

　　all-purpose flour – 6 tablespoons (50g)

　　heavy cream – 4 tablespoons

　　good, strong farmhouse Cheddar – 2/3 cup (100g) grated

　　a large cauliflower

　　finely grated Spenwood or Parmesan – 4 tablespoons

　　

Step 1

Pour the milk into a saucepan and drop in the bay leaf. Peel the onion, spike it with the cloves, and add to the pan. Bring to a boil. As soon as the milk starts to rise in the pan, turn it off and let sit for ten minutes to allow the bay and cloves to work their subtle magic. Set the oven at 425°F (220°C).

　　

Step 2

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, stir in the flour, and let the mixture cook, stirring regularly, until it is golden and smells warm and nutty. Pour in the warm milk (leaving behind the onion while taking the bay leaf with you) and let it come almost to a boil. Stir as it thickens, seasoning with salt and pepper, and resorting to a whisk if you need to beat out any lumps. It is less trouble than a spoon. Turn down the heat and let the sauce simmer peacefully for a good fifteen to twenty minutes. Stir in the cream and the grated Cheddar, then correct the seasoning with more salt and pepper.

　　

Step 3

Break the cauliflower into large florets. Bring a pan of water to a boil, salt it lightly, then drop in the florets. Leave at a merry boil for three or four minutes, until they can be easily pierced with the tip of a knife. Drain them carefully so they don’t break up, then put them in an ovenproof dish. Pour over the cheese sauce, fishing the bay leaf out or not as you wish, then scatter the surface with the grated Spenwood or Parmesan. Bake for twenty minutes or so, until the sauce has formed a patchily golden crust and is bubbling languidly around the edge.

　　Tender