Here’s a variation on another classic British dish.

I get most of my vegetables delivered by a young farmer friend. They are 100 percent organic, and delicious. The other day he brought me a fabulous looking cauliflower, at which point a certain member of the household started chanting “Cauliflower cheese! Cauliflower cheese!”

Sadly in Japan it is difficult to get good cheese, and if you can find it, it is extremely expensive. But to use cheap cheese with such a spectacular cauliflower seemed a shame…  in which case, hey, I’ll do it the Japanese way! So here’s the recipe for the cauliflower cheese I made. Even in the UK, you can use any old cheap cheese with this one and it tastes wonderful!

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Ingredients (serves 2)

• 1 cauliflower
• salt
• water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons white wine (or sake)
• 2 tablespoons white miso
• nutmeg
• salt and pepper
• 100g grated cheddar cheese

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1. Cut the cauliflower into chunks. Put plenty of water in a saucepan with salt and bring to the boil, then add the cauliflower for about 5 minutes, so it is still a bit hard, rinse off the water and allow to cool a little.

2. In a heavy pan, melt the butter and then add the flour, stirring with a wooden spatula to mix the flour and butter and ensure it doesn’t burn.

3. Add the milk little by little, stirring with your spatula to make sure it doesn’t go lumpy, then add salt, pepper, nutmeg and white miso to taste, put in half your grated cheese and take off the heat.

4. Lightly butter an oven proof dish, line it with the cauliflower and cover with the sauce from above, then sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese.

5. Heat in the oven at 180C until the top has turned a golden brown. Enjoy!