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Creamy Cauliflower Cheese with Walnuts

A gorgeous twist on a midweek winter favourite, using three cheeses and crunchy walnuts to perk up a classic.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Creamy Cauliflower Cheese with Walnuts

Why it works: Cream cheese and blue cheese share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 70 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Creamy Cauliflower Cheese with Walnuts

Serves 4
Prep30 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

406Calories
20 gProtein
31 gFat
16 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cheddar Cheese1 oz (28g)113
Blue Cheese1 oz (28g)100
Cream Cheese1 oz (28g)99
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Watercress1 cup (34g)4
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saladnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cream cheese + blue cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together70 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Mustard + watercresstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together293 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Cauliflower + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Cauliflower + watercresstop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Walnut + watercresstop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together71 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the cauliflower

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream cheese, mustard, blue cheese, walnut, pepper, watercress):

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Cauliflowerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream cheese, mustard, blue cheese, walnut, pepper, watercress. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.