Gluten Free Cauliflower Cheese

Cauliflower cheese is already a giant step ahead of macaroni and cheese towards being gluten free.  Only the cheese sauce requires a slight tweaking.  If one prefers a bread crumb topping over a grated cheese topping, then that can be made with gluten free crumbs.  Conveniently for me, cauliflower cheese is more of a comfort food from childhood than macaroni cheese ever was.  My own mother seemed to misunderstand the idea that a cheese sauce was involved instead of just grating cheese on top of the base and baking it.  It works reasonably well with cauliflower cheese; it's a stringy mess with macaroni.  When I would taste cauliflower cheese made at others' houses or from frozen, I was transformed into culinary bliss.  When I would taste macaroni and cheese made with a sauce, it was merely a revelation that what I was getting at home was sub par.

Then, there's the whole box concern, which need not be addressed in depth here.  It certainly doesn't fit  into our ethos at the Cottage.  It's not from scratch.  Although, as a child I yearned for day glow versions from blue boxes, and dreaded home made from scratch.  With cauliflower cheese, there is no box.  While the frozen versions are good, there are no gluten free versions as far as I have found.  One might as well explore cooking from scratch, when it comes to cauliflower cheese.

1 head cauliflower
45 g potato starch
60 g butter
500 ml whole milk
225 g Cheddar cheese
5 g powdered English mustard
50 g gluten free cracker crumbs

Break the cauliflower into florets, and put in the top of a steamer.  Steam until soft, but not mushy.  The cauliflower can then be put into a oven safe dish, or covered and refrigerated until later.  This step is make-ahead, if you wish.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius (400 Fahrenheit).  Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Add the potato starch and blend into the butter.  Remove from the heat and add the whole milk. Return to the heat.  Grate in the Cheddar cheese.  Whisk until blended and the cheese is melted.  Add the powdered mustard and whisk together.  Pour the cheese sauce over the cauliflower.  Crumble over the cauliflower and cheese the cracker crumbs.  Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.  The sauce should be hot and bubbly.  This dish cools and reheats well.  The amount of time baking is less about cooking the dish and allowing the flavors to meld.  Cool thoroughly before eating.  I have lost the roof of my mouth countless times to cauliflower cheese.  It's a great challenge for me to wait for this to be an edible temperature.