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I know the turkey and ham are generally the stars of the Christmas dinner table, but I think - for me - the side dishes are truly what make or break the holiday feast.
We have carrots with our meals all year, but for Christmas I love to gently cook them in a mixture of orange juice, orange rind and butter. Mashed potatoes get a good dose of cream (or even better: sour cream) and butternut squash gets perfectly caramelised in the oven before getting doused in maple syrup and sprinkled with aromatic dukkah spice (a Middle Eastern mixture; you can get a great one at mezze.ie).
Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love cauliflower cheese. Is there a more perfect way to serve cauliflower when you're planning a holiday feast? The thing is, I didn't really grow up with it. It's a very common side in Ireland, but not so much in my native Canada. However, this curry cauliflower casserole is something I have been eating for many years and it is absolutely delicious.
Weird habit
In Canada we have a weird habit of using tinned soups in our casseroles. This replaces the need to making a bechamel (white) sauce, which is what you normally need to do for a classic cauliflower cheese. It might just be nostalgia, but I love the flavour you get from using condensed tinned soup in casseroles. It just really works for me.
This is not an Indian style curry in any way, shape or form. The curry is literally just used as a flavouring. Combined with some zingy lemon juice, cheddar cheese and the tinned soup, it creates a real savoury, almost umami flavour which is so addictive I dare not make it any other time of year (I am liable to eat the whole tray, and it isn't the healthiest of side dishes).
As with any casserole, sometimes you just need to trust the process - even if the ingredients seem strange. Once steamed, the cauliflower is tossed in the curry/tinned soup sauce and poured into a casserole dish. It's topped with grated cheese and buttered breadcrumbs before being baked to a bubbly, golden brown. Sometimes, instead of breadcrumbs, I use crushed cream crackers tossed with melted butter. You can also use crushed cornflakes.
You can make this ahead and freeze, or make it a few days before Christmas and keep it in the fridge until you're ready to bake. In the video, you'll see I am using a package of dehydrated soup instead of a tin. This is fine in a pinch, but you need to add some milk to make up for the lack of sauce you'd get from the tinned soup (for a packet of soup; include about 125ml of full fat milk). I think it's better with the tinned soup, in any case.
Give this curry cauliflower casserole a try - it's still creamy and cheesy, and you might decide to make a traditional cauliflower cheese again.
Serves 8-12
Ingredients
1 extra large or 2 small cauliflower heads, cut into large florets
1 tbsp mild curry powder
Juice of 1/2 lemon
125g mayonnaise
250ml cream
1 tin condensed (undiluted) cream of chicken soup
300g grated cheddar cheese, divided
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
150g panko breadcrumbs (or breadcrumbs of your choice)
60g butter, melted
Directions
1 Preheat your oven to 180°C. Add the chopped cauliflower to a pot of water, bring to a simmer and cover. Steam the cauliflower for five minutes, until slightly tender but not overcooked. Strain the cauliflower and set aside.
2 In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream, curry powder, mayonnaise, lemon juice, tinned soup and half the shredded cheddar cheese. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
3 Add the steamed cauliflower to the sauce and toss to coat. Using a spatula, pour the cauliflower into a casserole dish, making sure to scrape all of the sauce in as well.
4 Mix the breadcrumbs with the melted butter and evenly sprinkle over the top of the cauliflower. Bake the casserole for 40 minutes, until the sides are bubbling and the breadcrumbs are golden brown.
5 Serve hot with chicken, turkey, ham or roast beef (sometimes I eat it on it's own, over steamed basmati rice). This is also a great vegetarian main course option.
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