This rich and creamy Cauliflower Cheese dish is perfect for a weeknight dinner or holiday featured dish! Also called cauliflower au gratin, this dish starts with roasted cauliflower, drenched in a white wine cheese sauce, and topped with rosemary and crunchy breadcrumbs.
Cauliflower cheese is a popular holiday dish in England, but I have a feeling once you try this dish, you’ll be adding it to your dinner tables during the workweek as well.
This recipe features creamy rosemary and white cheddar wine sauce that is drizzled over sweet roasted cauliflower, then topped with more cheese and a crunchy layer of breadcrumbs. This recipe is just cheese-on-cheese-on-cheese, and I love every minute of it. I typically bake this dish a little past golden brown to really get an excellent toasted layer on the top, so if you are a fan of only lightly browned dishes, feel free to modify your cooking time to work best for you.
Ingredients for the Cauliflower Cheese Recipe Include:
- Cauliflower (I use 2 heads – you’ll want leftovers!), plus avocado oil, salt, and pepper for roasting.
- Butter
- Garlic
- Rosemary (adds the best flavor to the sauce!)
- White wine (I buy a nice bottle so we can enjoy it with dinner after!)
- Cashew milk or unflavored almond milk. You can also use regular milk if you don’t limit your dairy intake.
- Extra Sharp White Cheddar Cheese
How to Make Cauliflower Au Gratin
The method for making this delicious cauliflower dish involves a few steps, so while it takes time, it’s easy and almost guaranteed to come out perfect every time. I have to give a shout out to Sharp Chef Michelle Miller for making this tasty creation come to life. Make sure to check out her blog, Sunkissed Kitchen for more mindful and delicious recipes.
Step 1: Roast cauliflower in the Sharp European Convection Single Wall Oven. First, spread cauliflower florets out over a large baking tray, drizzle with avocado oil, and generously season with salt and pepper.
Step 2: While the cauliflower is roasting on the tray, begin making the cheese sauce. I start by sautéing the garlic and rosemary in butter, and then add the white wine, cashew milk (or regular milk), and thicken it with arrowroot whisked with some water. Once the mixture is simmering and thickened, add the which cheddar cheese and continue to whisk until the cheese has made a thin but creamy sauce.
Step 3: Pour the cheese sauce over the cauliflower, and then top with MORE white cheddar cheese (oh yes!), and some breadcrumbs. I make my own super simple breadcrumbs by blending brown rice crackers. These have a very similar crunchy texture to regular breadcrumbs. With the Sharp 30” Induction Cooktop, clean up for this cheesy sauce is a breeze because there are no open flames or radiant coils.
Step 4: Put the casserole back in the Sharp European Convection Single Wall Oven, and bake for 15 minutes, or until the top has browned and the sauce is bubbling.
This dish is a perfect example of the powerful combo of a Sharp Induction Cooktop and the Sharp European Convection Oven.
While the cauliflower was roasting in the oven, I made the cheese sauce on my induction cooktop. Cheese sauces are notorious for burning if you’re not careful — and while I am making videos and taking photos, it’s straightforward to leave items on the cooktop or in the oven for too long.
The Sharp 30” European Black Mirror Finish Induction Cooktop is perfect for delicate cheese sauces like this one. The cheese sauce miraculously wasn’t burned or scorched at all after being left on the cooktop, because of an incredible feature called a simmer enhancer. The Simmer Enhancer option provides low, consistent cooking performance, and heat is generated directly into the cookware itself, so there is less wasted energy to heat up your kitchen. At lower temperatures, the heat is more evenly distributed through small bursts of heat, making it easier to cook delicate sauces like cheese and chocolate without burning.
The European Convection Oven is such a beautiful addition to my kitchen with a cobalt blue porcelain interior that I am obsessed with. It’s such a sleek and modern appliance to incorporate under my Sharp 30” Induction Cooktop, and I love how evenly brown dishes like this cauliflower cheese come out. This even cooking is because of the True European Convection built into the appliance that allows it to heat more efficiently and cook more evenly than a conventional wall oven.
Cauliflower Au Gratin
This rich and creamy Cauliflower Cheese dish is perfect for a weeknight dinner or holiday featured dish! Also called cauliflower au gratin, this dish starts with roasted cauliflower, drenched in a white wine cheese sauce, and topped with rosemary and crunchy breadcrumbs.
- 8-10 cups cauliflower
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp fresh rosemary
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 cup cashew milk unsweetened, unflavored
- 1 1/2 tbsp
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 cups extra-sharp white cheddar cheese
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
- Preheat Sharp European Convection Wall oven to 425º F.
- Add cauliflower to a large baking sheet, and drizzle with avocado oil. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Bake the cauliflower for 15 minutes, until starting to brown.
- While the cauliflower is roasting, prepare the cheese sauce. In a large skillet, add butter, and heat over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and rosemary, and sauté for about 7 minutes, until softened and fragrant.
- To the skillet, add white wine, and simmer for 5-7 minutes, until the wine has reduced by half or more.
- Add the cashew milk to the skillet, and warm until simmering.
- Add water to the arrowroot, and mix together. Once the cashew milk is warmed and simmering, slowly add the arrowroot while whisking the mixture.
- Add 1 1/2 cups of the cheese, and continue to whisk until it’s incorporated into the sauce.
- Add the roasted cauliflower to a 9×9 or similar sized pan. Drizzle the cheese sauce over the top of the cauliflower.
- Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the cauliflower, and then top with an even layer of breadcrumbs. I like to use brown rice crackers as breadcrumbs. Just add them to a blender and process until broken up into a breadcrumb texture.
- Return the casserole to the oven for an additional 15 minutes, until the breadcrumbs are a golden brown and the cheese sauce is bubbling.
