Smoked Paprika Cauliflower Cheese

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It's not often I make food-related blog posts, but when I do, they are about places I love to eat or recipes I absolutely adore. This week, I decided to take a well-loved recipe and give it a twist. Cauliflower cheese is a classic roast side dish but until this week, I had never made my own. So when Schwartz challenged me to make a dish using their smoked paprika seasoning, I decided that cauliflower cheese might be a great dish to try it with. I can tell you right now, that it doesn't disappoint. Read on to find out how I make my smoked paprika cauliflower cheese, perfect for roast dinners or maybe even Christmas dinner!

Ingredients

For this recipe, you will need:

• Schwartz Smoked Paprika*
• One whole cauliflower
• 1 tsp of English mustard
• 40g butter
• 50g plain flour
• 130g mature cheddar cheese
• 450ml milk

You can find the original recipe right here on the Tesco Real Food website!

Method

Before anything, I preheated the oven to 200°C. (This is 180°C for fan-assisted or gas mark 6.) I then cut the cauliflower into small florets ready to boil.

I boiled a pan of water and then added the cauliflower and boiled for about 10 minutes or until tender. I think when I did it, it was about 8 minutes. Once that was done, I drained the cauliflower and then set it aside to make the cauliflower cheese sauce.

The sauce started off with the butter melting in the pan on a low heat and then I added the 50g of plain flour until it was all combined. At this point, I got a little worried I was doing it wrong and then realised that it was like making lasagne sauce which I'm familiar with making. I then began adding the milk in little by little until it was all combined. A tip is to keep stirring to stop it sticking or burning at the bottom. The sauce should start to get a little thicker but not too thick.

It was time to add the cheese and mustard. I added half the cheese and kept the other half to top it up later on and then added the mustard. I stirred it until it was all combined and it began to thicken up.

 

It was at this point, I added the flavour twist to the recipe and added smoked paprika. I didn't add any measurements for this because it was more about adding as much or as little as you want. For me, I added about a tablespoon of smoked paprika, giving the cauliflower cheese sauce a light paprika colour to the sauce. I tried the sauce at this point and it had the loveliest smokey, cheesy flavour. It was exactly what I was looking for!

Once the sauce was finished, I added half the sauce to an oven-safe glass dish and then added the cauliflower florets on top. I then added the rest of the sauce and sprinkled the remaining cheese on top. And just to add a little more flavour, I sprinkled some more smoked paprika on top.

I baked the cauliflower cheese for about 20 minutes until the top was golden brown. And voila! Smoked paprika cauliflower cheese is complete.
  

This recipe serves about 4-8 people and is so delicious. It's a great and warming dish that is perfect with many meals but I think it best served with a roast dinner. I absolutely loved making this and was so surprised at how easy it was too. I'll definitely be making this again and especially with the Schwartz smoked paprika seasoning.

I've been using Schwartz seasoning for as long as I have been cooking. My mum has always used their seasonings and has inspired me to cook and experiment with seasonings too. I often used paprika for recipes with sweet potato (I make the best paprika sweet potato wedges) or for Mexican inspired dishes like my slow cooker chicken burrito dish. The obvious difference between regular paprika and smoked, is the addition of the smokiness to the seasoning. It's a fantastic flavour and gives a barbequed feel to dishes. I can't wait to try my sweet potato wedges with this and explore some new dishes.

Schwartz's smoked paprika can be found on the Tesco website and instore.

What recipes would you try with smoked paprika?