Cauliflower Cheese and sous vide duck breast
Dedicated to Emma (Diabetes Diet) (and Pink Glitter Publishing) who posted a recipe for the cauliflower cheese a few weeks ago
I modified Emma’s recipe to suit my tastes and predilections. I urge you to read Emma’s version and mine so you can see I’ve done my best to avoid any accusation of plagiarism.
Cauliflower cheese for some people is the ultimate comfort food. Cauliflower has recently taken on this aura as a low carb healthful option to a starchy root or tuber. Please note, I’m not using the word ‘root’ as a verb in Australian vernacular, rather I’m using the word ‘root’ as a noun. Although, in the Australian vernacular, ‘root’ can be converted to a noun when described and prefaced with the adjective ‘good’.
I’ve always been a fan of cauliflower and cauliflower cheese was a favourite food when I was a child. I recall Mum making it with a white sauce based on flour, butter, and milk.
This version from Emma does away with the flour, butter, and milk and replaces it with double cream and a good amount of cheese.
It’s been ages since Coles has had fresh (uncooked/raw) duck breasts in the meat section. When I saw a nice pair of breasts while shopping today I thought I’d serve the cauliflower cheese a nice plump duck breast cooked sous vide. An ultimate comfort food meal now that the overnight temperatures have approached 0 °C (32 °F).
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I bought all the ingredients from Coles. Yummy Lummy is not sponsored by anyone.Recipe
- 1 packet cauliflower frozen
- 1 tablespoon rice bran oil
- 2 teaspoons turmeric
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon hot chilli paste
- 250 millilitres double cream
- 100 grams vintage cheese grated
- 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
- 1 duck breast raw
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five spices powder
- 1 teaspoon Iodised salt
- 3 leaves Green kale
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Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
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Boil salted water, add the turmeric and cook the cauliflower florets for a few minutes.
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Drain well so the cauliflower is dry.
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Toast the cumin, coriander and pepper in a dry frying pan until the smell whacks you in the face
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Grind to to a powder in a coffee grinder.
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Put the dry cooked cauliflower into a roasting tray.
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With your hands massage into the cauliflower the oil and spices and enjoy the odours generated.
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Cook in the oven for 15–20 minutes.
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Heat your cream gently in a pan, add the wholegrain mustard, and most of the grated vintage cheese.
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Mix well.
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Remove the cauliflower from the oven.
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If you’re like me and you’ll eat from the roasting tray, pour over the cheesy sauce.
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Add the rest of the grated cheese to the top.
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Put back in the oven for 20 minutes.
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Serve while it’s hot unless you’re fond of cold or tepid cauliflower cheese.
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With a sharp knife score your breasts in a crisscross pattern.
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Season your breasts with some iodised salt and Chinese five spices powder and rub the seasoning into your breasts with oiled fingers.
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Seal your breasts in vacuum bags.
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Cook in a water bath at 57 °C (135 °F) for 2 hours.
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Remove your breasts from the water bath and place them in the refrigerator to cool until you’re ready to sear one of your breasts while leaving the other breast in the refrigerator for another meal.
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In a smoking hot frypan, sear your breast skin side down until you have a nice brown crust on your breast.
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Sear the other side of your breast and then place on a plate to rest.
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Once your breast has rested which means you'll have a lovely moist, juicy, plump breast, with a sharp butcher's knife (I use my Dick brand butcher's knife) slice your breast so you get a nice presentation for plating up and it means when you sit down you don't need a knife so there is less washing up. https://www.dick.de/en/
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Turn the heat down on the frypan and toss in the kale leaves and some olive oil and wilt the kale leaves.
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While I’d normally eat the cauliflower cheese straight from the roasting tray because I’m an animal, for the purposes of food photography and serving the meal in a manner that may be visually appealing to readers, I took a portion with a large spoon and put it onto a plate.
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I added the wilted kale next to the cauliflower cheese and then laid on top of the wilted kale the slices of duck.
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Now some people would expect some sort of sauce to be poured over the duck, but you know what? I’m lazy and I’ve basically committed enough time and effort to this meal. The cheese sauce on the cauliflower is sauce enough and the duck will go nicely with the cauliflower cheese anyway.
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Put it this way, once everything is in your stomach, i.e., the organ between your œsophagus and duodenum (not what is more correctly termed your abdomen), the powerful stomach muscles will churn everything with gastric acid into a brown mush ready for the pancreas and gall bladder to add some extra chemicals and enzymes so in a day or so you can defecate the undigested bits as faeces.
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Shoot a photograph and a short video because Google now wants video on recipe cards.
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Eat the meal.
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Wash the dishes (hint, wash as you cook, it makes life easier).
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Write the recipe.
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Write the blog post.
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Hit publish and hope this blog post gets shared on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.
Recipe Video
Disclaimer
I have no culinary training nor qualifications. This post is not intended to convey any health or medical advice. If you have any health concerns about anything you read, please contact your registered medical practitioner. The quantities are indicative. Feel free to vary the quantities to suit your taste. I deliberately do not calculate energy for dishes. I deliberately default to 500 Calories or 500,000 calories because I do not make these calculations.
Photographs
This is a gallery of photographs. Click on one image and then scroll through the photographs.
Fresh duck breasts in packaging 
Fresh duck breasts in packaging with plastic removed 
Fresh duck breasts ready for preparation 
Fresh duck breasts scored 
Fresh duck breasts scored and seasoned 
Fresh duck breasts scored, seasoned, and rubbed 
Vacuum packed fresh duck breasts 
Cauliflower in boiling turmeric water 
Cauliflower cooked in turmeric water 
Vintage cheddar cheese 
Grated Vintage cheddar cheese 
Double cream, wholegrain mustard, and vintage cheese sauce 
Seasoned cauliflower ready to be covered in cheesy creamy sauce 
Seasoned cauliflower covered in cheesy creamy sauce with extra cheese 
Sous vide cooked duck breast 
Duck breast patted dry 
Duck breast patted dry 
Duck breast seared 
Cauliflower cheese out of the oven 
Cauliflower cheese with sous vide duck breast on wilted kale Cauliflower, Turmeric, Cumin seeds, Coriander seeds, Rice bran oil, Iodised salt, Black pepper, Kale, Cheese, Cream, Wholegrain mustard #yummylummy #foodphotography #foldio #hypop #lowcarb #sousvide #cauliflowercheese #duckbreast #kale The recipe will be on the blog. The cauliflower cheese is a low carb recipe. The duck breast was cooked sous vide. 
Cauliflower cheese with sous vide duck breast on wilted kale Cauliflower, Turmeric, Cumin seeds, Coriander seeds, Rice bran oil, Iodised salt, Black pepper, Kale, Cheese, Cream, Wholegrain mustard #yummylummy #foodphotography #foldio #hypop #lowcarb #sousvide #cauliflowercheese #duckbreast #kale The recipe will be on the blog. The cauliflower cheese is a low carb recipe. The duck breast was cooked sous vide. 
Cauliflower cheese with sous vide duck breast on wilted kale Cauliflower, Turmeric, Cumin seeds, Coriander seeds, Rice bran oil, Iodised salt, Black pepper, Kale, Cheese, Cream, Wholegrain mustard #yummylummy #foodphotography #foldio #hypop #lowcarb #sousvide #cauliflowercheese #duckbreast #kale The recipe will be on the blog. The cauliflower cheese is a low carb recipe. The duck breast was cooked sous vide. 
Cauliflower cheese with sous vide duck breast on wilted kale Cauliflower, Turmeric, Cumin seeds, Coriander seeds, Rice bran oil, Iodised salt, Black pepper, Kale, Cheese, Cream, Wholegrain mustard #yummylummy #foodphotography #foldio #hypop #lowcarb #sousvide #cauliflowercheese #duckbreast #kale The recipe will be on the blog. The cauliflower cheese is a low carb recipe. The duck breast was cooked sous vide.
Questions and answers
Were you high on something when you wrote this recipe?
Yes, high on life. Look, the English language is a fun language and I figure I may as well have some fun when I’m writing recipes and blog posts. I’m never going to make it as a cook or a serious writer, so I may as well have some fun while writing some of these recipes.
If you’ve read the beginning of this post and the recipe card and you don’t like my style, feel free to tell me in a comment. If you feel outraged by my use of Australian English, feel free to share your outrage on social media. The more views I get the better I’ll feel.
If you’re interested in my Dick brand butcher’s knife. Here is the link.
What was the subject of this meal? The Emma’s take on cauliflower cheese or the duck breasts?
Emma’s cauliflower cheese. I had been planning to make it for about a week. The breasts were serendipity. Each week I look in the Coles meat section for a nice pair of breasts and it’s been a barren wasteland free of breasts for months. I jumped with excitement when I saw a nice pair of breasts in the meat section this morning.
Was the kale necessary?
Yes. My general practitioner (family physician for North American readers) recently told me to eat more leafy green vegetables and even though I usually eschew hipster food, I like kale. It has a good mouthfeel.
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Final thoughts
- Do you like cauliflower cheese?
- Do you like kale?
- Do you get excited when you see something you want to eat in the meat section of your supermarket?
I like everything about the meal. I haven’t tried sous vide duck breasts yet but yours turned out looking delicious.
Thanks, Karen. Sous vide duck breasts are amazing. I recommend them highly.
Looks delish.
Cauliflower with cheese is serious comfort food. Actually, anything with cheese is comfort food…
I agree. Melted cheese makes most things better.
A bit of a sexy post there today Gary:) I love cauliflower cheese as well. Actually, I love cauliflower full stop.
😃😃😃 Thanks Serina. I think I’ll be having mashed cauliflower soon and then cauliflower soup 👍👍👍
Always like your laid-back writing style, Gaz. It’s like talking to a friend.
I like cauliflower cheese. In fact, I like cheese all day, every day. Don’t mind kale, and I don’t mind green leafy vegetables. They make a meal much lighter. Like you, I would be very excited seeing duck breast in Cole 😀
Awww, thanks so much Mabel. You are so kind.
The pleasure is mine, Gaz. Always a good read here.
Thank you Mabel 😃👍💚
I’m all for cream and lots of cheese with cauliflower cheese. I love cauliflower in both its healthy form and in its less healthy form too!
Thanks, Lorraine. I agree. I thinking cauliflower mash and cauliflower soup will feature soon.
I love the way you wrote the recipe! English has so many homonyms and idioms, you can have so much fun with it! I have become a recent fan of kale. I know it’s so good nutritionally, and recently I’ve been frying it up with a bit of garlic and soy sauce and having it with scrambled eggs. And the pet guinea pigs love it raw of course.
Thank you so much. I like to have a bit of fun when writing and while I’m a food lover, I can’t help with a few technical medical and scientific terms splashed here and there.
I am so going to try the kale with garlic and soy sauce. Thanks for the idea.
You’re welcome. The first time I tried kale (someone I know gave me a big bunch from their garden, complete with little white bugs on it) they said – it’s better fried up with garlic and a bit of olive oil. So that’s how I do it. And I just thought of adding the soy sauce – It’s my “go to” sauce. Sometimes I’ll have kale raw in a salad. But with scrambled eggs, it’s better warm and wilted – it’s not like I’m deep frying it or anything – but that’d be funny!
I tried the kale with garlic and soy and it was great.
Oh I’m so pleased you tried it and liked it! I think I’ll have some today – I too am trying to eat more green leafies.
That cauliflower cheese looks so good Gaz and glad you had some greens to go with your meal.
Thanks, Sue. I have some cauliflower cheese leftover for dinner tonight too 😃
I’m really getting to love a lot of kale.
Oh my goodness me, what a pleasant surprise I got when I saw this… You’ve done the recipe proud with your fab food styling and photography. I like kale but only if it’s fried and the thick stalks are removed (otherwise you need to spend a good hour afterwards flossing your teeth.) Thanks again.
Thanks, Emma. You are too kind.
I hold the kale by the stalk in my left hand and with a sharp knife in my right hand run it along the stalk to strip the leaves off. I think put the stalk in the compost bin.I’ve never fried the kale, I just wilt it or shred it finely and have it in a salad.
What a fabulous meal!
Thank you very much 😃
Sounds delicious. I enjoy cauliflower and cheese. Adding in turmeric and kale is a healthy option.
Me and dairy products don’t get along so maybe I would melt or sprinkle a small amount of cheese over the cauliflower.
I’m doing my best to eat more vegetables, fruits and organic foods.
I’m not a big fan of duck as it tends to be oily. Also I rarely see it sold in the grocery stores.
Keeping my high blood pressure in check. Also as I’ve gotten older some foods I can no longer digest. I don’t want World War Three going on in my digestive system.
I agree about trying to get more vegetables into our diets. I hope you can get more vegetables in every day.
I really like kale.
I do My best. Now that the Community Garden is open I can buy fresh veggies. Otherwise My neighborhood is a food wasteland as are most poor and low income communities.
It would be great to have access to a community garden and get fresh vegetables.
New York City is trying to bridge the food gap that poor neighborhoods have. It’s an ongoing battle to find healthy food choices close by.
I hope the city authorities can do more to help older and less well off residents get good fresh food.
Yes. They are trying. Their efforts just need to be extended to a wider range.
The Community Garden sells fresh produce. Otherwise like many seniors I rely on the soup kitchens and food pantries. This is a low income food desert. Only rich wealthy neighborhoods have better food choices and options. The rest of us make do.