Noor Murad is one of Ottolenghi’s esteemed Test Kitchen gang. What a job. She also posts a lot of sage advice and tantalising recipes on Instagram (@noorishbynoor). Honestly, I have learnt so much about making hummus that I felt inspired to get some dried chickpeas on a recent grocery trip.
I knew I had to make this recipe for Cauliflower Cheese Filo Pie. I had a packet of filo pastry in the freezer and a sad looking cauliflower leftover from last week’s vegetable box. On top of that, two friend’s sent me screenshots of the finished product on Yotam’s instagram. Impossibly golden and appetising.
The cauliflower cheese filo pie isn’t very difficult to construct really. It’s just a classic cauli-cheese in a filo case. So roast your florets till golden (in curry powder or whatever spice you fancy). Make a cheese sauce, add garlic and mustard. Layer up some filo in a springform cake tin. Bake.
In the same way that Mac n Cheese can be a side or a main, so can cauliflower cheese with a bit of tweaking. The crispy filo case, the sprinkled herbs or greens and a grate of lemon zest tempered the rich cheese sauce. We ate our cauliflower cheese filo pie with some cauliflower leaves that I roasted with the florets and some cherry tomatoes that I roasted in the oven with the pie. The sweet, acidic tomatoes were great alongside the pie. If you wanted a cold side, a tomato and pomegranate molasses salad would be perfect. I can also see this pie as part of a spread, like a quiche. Or as a side for meat. I know it Is possible to veganize too, because one of my friend’s has done it.
The recipe for cauliflower cheese filo pie can be found in one of Noor’s saved stories on Instagram – but I hope it ends up in a book soon. For your cooking and eating pleasure, I’ve scribed the recipe from the 20 or so screenshots from instagram on the next page.
