Pasta and Cauliflower Cheese Recipe

Karen Burns-Booth offers the best of both worlds in this pasta and cauliflower cheese recipe. Using mezze penne tricolore adds vibrancy to this often beige dish, which is given a little crunch with some toasted hazelnuts.

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This wonderful family dish for cauliflower cheese with hazelnuts and penne pasta is a cross between the eternally popular cauliflower cheese and macaroni cheese, but with an elegant and sophisticated twist, that will still appeal the children and adults alike. Using mezze penne tricolore adds a bit of fun as well as colour to the recipe, and the quill-shaped pasta is the perfect shape and size for the unctuous coating of cheese sauce.

Cauliflower cheese with mezze penne tricolore and hazelnuts
250g of mezze penne tricolore
1 small cauliflower, broken into small florets
50g of hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1 handful of parsley, chopped
Cheese sauce
50g of butter
50g of plain flour
600ml of milk, warmed in a pan
1 tsp English mustard
250g of cheddar, extra mature
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

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To begin, cook the pasta in salted boiling water for 8–10 minutes, adding the cauliflower florets for the last 5 minutes. Drain the pasta and cauliflower and set to one side in a large bowl

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6 and butter a large ovenproof dish

To make the cheese sauce, make a roux by melting the butter in a pan then stirring in the flour. Stir over a low heat for a few minutes, then gradually whisk in the warmed milk

Keep whisking until you have a silky, thick sauce. Stir in three quarters of the cheese and mustard, then taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper

Pour the cheese sauce over the cooked pasta and cauliflower and mix well. Spoon it into the prepared ovenproof dish and scatter the remaining cheese over the top

Bake in the oven for 15–20 minutes, until it is golden brown and bubbling, adding the chopped hazelnuts over the top for the last 3–4 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately with seasonal green salad and crusty bread

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