A cauliflower or broccoli ‘cheese’ was my definition of childhood comfort – probably because one of the first things my mother taught me to make was béchamel. I remember sitting on the kitchen bench and watching her methodically stirring the warmed milk into the roux, coaxing it into a silky consistency. It would then be poured over broccoli and cauliflower florets and baked until the top puckered and blistered. This dish goes a slightly different route and has a sneaky substitution of a cheese-gilded cauliflower purée as the sauce. Look, mum! No flour! You’d be hard pressed to taste the difference. Instead, it’s a concentrated combination of soft and crisp vegetables, a little dairy and still plenty of satisfying squish. It’s comfort food at its best (and is lovely with chicken, steak, or good-quality sausages).