Sometimes we think about the first person to combine cauliflower and cheese. Were they a rocket scientist? A physicist? Child prodigy? Probably all of the above. And as for the clever clogs who came up with garlic crumb… Blimey. Demi-god?
Put a large saucepan of salted water on to boil. Grate the Cheddar cheese. Peel and crush the garlic. Pick the thyme leaves and finely chop. Roughly chop the ham. Cut the cauliflower into florets then finely slice.
Prepare The Creamy Sauce
To separate the egg yolks and whites, crack the egg over a small bowl, catching the yolk in one side of the shell. Transfer the yolk between each half of the shell until all the white drips into the bowl below. Set the egg whites aside. In a medium bowl, combine the cooking cream with the egg yolks and the grated Cheddar cheese. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
Cook The Garlic Crumb
Heat the butter in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the garlic, thyme and panko breadcrumbs and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes, or until golden. Season with salt and pepper, then remove from the pan and set aside.
Get Cooking
Add the fettuccine to the boiling water and cook for 6 minutes, or until ‘al-dente’. Drain and reserve 2 tbs of cooking water. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in the same large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the Serrano ham and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until crispy. Add the cauliflower and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until golden but still crunchy. Remove pan from heat.
Combine Pasta and Creamy Sauce
Add the drained fettuccine to the large frying pan along with the creamy sauce, baby spinach leaves and reserved cooking water to loosen. Mix well using tongs.
Serve Up
Divide the cauliflower cheese fettuccine between bowls and top the adults’ portions with the garlic crumb.
Recipe Notes
Nutritional Values per serving Energy (kJ)3680 kJ Fat 43.2 g of which saturates 25.5 g Carbohydrate 83.2 g of which sugars 5.7 g Protein 37.2 g Sodium 373 mg