Should we trust in our guts and eat what we like or better to err on the side of caution? Let’s make this cauliflower cheese to find it out!
Simplicity is beauty and beauty is pleasure that goes to our very basic needs. Our body is so fascinating and our brain is probably the most interesting which has developed several parts and function during our evolution as a species.
How simple can life be?
The part, our species started out in the wilderness, is called the primitive or reptilian brain that is responsible for all sorts of body functions and hard-wired behaviors that we like to call instincts or gut feelings.
Sure, the reptilian brain in the human body is not the exact carbon copy of reptiles but their similarities in structure prompted the early neuroscientist to refer to it like that and associate primitive behaviors (aggression, dominance, territoriality and ritual) display with it.
Was leaving paradise a good idea?
Once Adam bit the apple and grew a neocortex, we as human beings came to conscience. Knowing lots of things about the world and figuring out even more turned out to be beneficial for our species so much that we even got permission to rule over other beings (Genesis 1:26).
Unfortunately, the first couple of thousand years after leaving the paradise, it wasn’t really a joyride so our primitive brain still needed to pull us out of trouble when we spent too much time daydreaming or got too friendly with animals with unreasonably sharp teeth.
These experiences were burnt into our primitive brain so much that we even carry them with us today, basing all our instincts and deepest fears on them. It’s not a coincidence that all the evil creatures we imagine in all sort of stories has sharp teeth nor that we fear the darkness.
Can we be ever our own?
Darkness and sharp teeth were our greatest enemy for so long that whenever we see them our tedious work for keeping our daily stress score down, goes out of the window. Luckily, in the past couple of decades we did a pretty good job at keeping wild beasts at bay and our life out of darkness but not all fears of ours can be so easily remedied.
Our fears of the unknown and overly reliance of trusting the known may have served us well on individual cases but the survival of the species was granted not by its strength, agility or smartness to bend the environment to its needs but by its ability to change and adapt to the ever changing environment.
In the era when so many things are changing around us, relying on our gut feelings that is rooted in past experiences is not just overrated but threatens our very existence without us even realizing it. Not to mention that our gut can be played not only by those who are learnt on how to gain others trust easily but by ourselves too.
Who to trust?
As our primitive brain has no way of arguing with our more complex and much more clever neocortex, it uses sneaky techniques like our mother used to employ to feed us vegetables and make us do our chores without arguing much.
Our neural reward system is so effective at teaching us behaviors that are beneficial to us in the short run that anyone who taps into its secrets can make us do anything for them with a smile on our faces.
We don’t have to go as far as slot machine or social networks when we can encounter such things in our mother’s cousin too. In those times when sugar was reserved for desserts and not for everything parents had to come up with tricks to make vegetables edible and the dairy industry was the one delivering the answer in the form of cheese.
Why cheese on cauliflower?
Everything was soaked in cheese and it really did taste better with presumably additional healthy benefits only dairy can deliver.
Sure, enough these claims not precisely stand their ground today and we could raise some ethical questions about how right is to eat other mammals’ milk but other than that cheese is still a tasty food that is readily available on any low carb diet.
So, it comes only naturally that cauliflower and cheese a dish that could be a symbol of parental manipulation living its golden age as a low carb, healthy and delicious dish today.
Ingredients
- 1 head Cauliflower (small)
- 4 tablespoons / 60g Butter
- 3.5 oz / 100g Cheddar (matured British)
- 1 tablespoon Mustard (dijon)
- 1 cup / 250ml Cream
How to make Cauliflower cheese
- Break the cauliflower apart into smallish florets then put them into a steamer.
- Steam cook the cauliflower, which should take about 10 – 15 minutes once the water is starting to boil.
- Prepare the sauce by melting butter on medium heat then add the grated cheese, mustard and cream. Add salt, pepper or any favorite spice or herbs if desired. Mind that mature cheddar is salty.
- Mix everything well together.
- Place the cauliflowers into an oven proof dish and pour the sauce over them. Ideally the sauce should cover all the florets.
- Place the cauliflowers into a 390°F / 200°C preheated oven until golden brown spots start to appear on top for about 15 – 20 minutes.
Enjoy!
Cauliflower Cheese Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 head Cauliflower small
- 4 tablespoons Butter
- 3.5 oz Cheddar matured British
- 1 tablespoon Mustard dijon
- 1 cup Cream
Instructions
- Break the cauliflower apart into smallish florets then put them into a steamer.
- Steam cook the cauliflower, which should take about 10 - 15 minutes once the water is starting to boil.
- Prepare the sauce by melting butter on medium heat then add the grated cheese, mustard and cream. Add salt, pepper or any favorite spice or herbs if desired. Mind that mature cheddar is salty.
- Mix everything well together.
- Place the cauliflowers into an oven proof dish and pour the sauce over them. Ideally the sauce should cover all the florets.
- Place the cauliflowers into a 390°F / 200°C preheated oven until golden brown spots start to appear on top for about 15 - 20 minutes.
Notes
Pin now, Enjoy later!
