cauliflower mac and cheese

picky eaters or not, children have such an instinctive distaste for this vegetable and its relatives, it's like an international conspiracy is imbeded in their genetic code. i am one of the few spared. as i kid i loved it fried, in a light batter of egg and flour, and my mother's cauliflower gratin qualified as holiday. i tried them all, plus soups and stews for zhara, but i can beg till the cows come home. she just says no, in a voice very much prophesizing the teenager she'll be. well, she may be stubborn, but i have decades of practice on her.

the ideea is to make a fine cauliflower puree which then goes in your kid's favourite pasta sauce. i've made this a few times to get it right, and for zhara it only works if i use a sauce mornay made with munchee - it's the only cheese she'll eat. we also use miniature pasta, she's just more amenable especially if they have cute shapes, like animal or letters. 

i don't know if you can tell looking at the picture, but it's all bite size, the penne are less than 1 inch, and the meatballs are barely the size of a quarter. so first you break the cauliflower into small florets and you boil it until easily pierced with a fork. while it boils, prep your sauce and boil the pasta. you can either do a bechamel, by making a roux out 2 tb each butter and flour and then streaming in 1 cup milk, or you can use jarred alfredo sauce. either way, add to it 1/2 cup packed grated cheese. when it's melted add the cauliflower puree, season with salt and pepper and pinch of italian seasoning. i have to use equal quatities of sauce and cauliflower puree, any less sauce and she won't eat it. one cup sauce plus one cup puree is sufficient for 3/4 lb pasta. 

zhara enjoys it very much. she ate so much of it for lunch that she couldn't touch her usual second course of fresh fruit. the meatballs didn't fly, but i don't care, this is still such progress for her!