The pie is built in an 9-inch springform in three distinct layers: ground beef on the bottom, cauliflower florets above it, and a cumin cheese sauce poured over the top before it goes into the oven. The springform format produces a tall, compact pie where every slice reveals all three layers cleanly to eat as a meal alongside a simple green salad.
The pie bakes covered with foil first to cook the meat and vegetable through, then uncovered to develop a golden, bubbling top. Leyden cheese is worth seeking out. If unavailable, a Gouda with caraway seeds comes close, but the cumin is the detail that makes this pie what it is, and it is not a detail worth skipping.
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Key Ingredients in This Recipe
You’ll find the complete list of ingredients and exact quantities in the recipe below.
- Butter
- All-purpose flour
- Cauliflower
- Ground beef
- Curry powder
- Egg
- Shallot
- Milk
- Leyden cheese
- Parsley
Savory pies are a great way to use up left overs, to try flavor combinations and to impress your guests. Most of them can also be eaten cold and warm. This cauliflower pie has a cumin cheese sauce and I suggest to eat this one warm.
The cumin in the cheese sauce comes from a particular Dutch cheese, Leyden cheese. It’s a cheese that you like or you don’t, there is not really a middle ground here. I am definitely part of the ‘like-group’.
Leyden is a cheese named after one of the old university cities in the Netherlands, the city of Leiden. A cute small town, with a center overrun by students, bicycles everywhere. No place to park, but a lovely old city to visit. When I found this recipe in an old cookbook from the Dutch Dairy Council, I thought it was worth sharing as it included this Dutch Gouda-type cheese with cumin, that not everybody knows.
How to Make the Cauliflower Pie with Cumin
Make a simply pastry dough, transfer dough to a spring form. I used a spring form, so it’s easier to get the pie out of the form and the size of the form is 8-inches. This results in a small compact and high pie; the higher the easier it is to see the different layers. Add ground beef, add cauliflower, pour cheese sauce over cauliflower.
Cut the cauliflower into small florets, as that covers the meat better than larger florets. Before you place the pie in the oven, cover it with aluminum foil, so it does not burn, while it does cook the meat and vegetable. Then later in the process cook without the aluminum foil to create a nice brown top and to color the dough to golden caramel.
Open the spring form and cut the pie in wedges. When you serve it hot, the cheese sauce with oooze over the pie layers, showing off.
Cauliflower Pie with Cumin
Pin Recipe FacebookIngredients
- 4 1/2 ounces butter
- 6 ounces all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup ice water
- 1 cauliflower
- 8 ounces ground beef
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
- 1 egg
- 1/2 shallot
- 1 ounce butter
- 1 ounce all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 6 ounces Leyden cheese, grated
- salt and pepper
- parsley
Instructions
- Start with making the dough. This pie will fit in an 9-inch spring form.
- Add flour, butter, and salt in a bowl and until you have a mixture that resembles coarse meal with small sized butter pieces. Drizzle water over mixture, and mix until incorporated. Check after 3 tablespoons if dough holds together; if so, stop adding water, if not add the last tablespoon.Do not overwork dough or pastry will be tough.
- Press the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Clean the cauliflower and cut it is small florets. Cook the cauliflower in water with salt for just 5 minutes. Drain.
- Mix the ground beef with salt, pepper, curry powder, finely chopped shallot and the egg.
- Make the cheese sauce: melt the butter, add the flower and and stir until smooth. Cook roux over medium-low heat and stir constantly until desired color is reached (light caramel). Gradually add the milk and mix until you have a smooth sauce.
- Add cheese and mix until melted. Add more milk if too thick. Flavor with salt and pepper.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to a 10-inch circle. This should cover the bottom and the sides of the spring form.
- Cover the bottom with the ground beef mixture. Divide the cauliflower on top of the meat and finish with the cheese sauce.
- Cover the form with aluminum foil and place in a preheated oven of 400°F.
- After 45 minutes remove the aluminum foil and bake another 30 minutes until you have a dark brown top and a caramel crust.
- Remove spring from, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
03/11/2020: Hi there, I cooked this dish this evening. It turned out really well and was very tasty. My partner and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. ✿¸¸.•*´¯ `✿•.¸¸¸¸¸¸¸¸ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ {｡스 ‿ 스｡}
Hi Lyndsay I am so glad you and your partner enjoyed the pie.