Dairy-Free Bechamel Sauce (AKA Cauliflower & Leek Soup!) in the Thermomix

Jul 15, 2013

You can imagine my delight when tasting a newly made Cauliflower and Leek soup for the first time, that a thought popped into my head… “Hey! This could taste like Bechamel Sauce!” You know, that creamy sauce that you put through lasagnes? Well, let me tell you, it has been SOME TIME since I tasted that.

Here’s how it worked…

Ingredients
The white section of 1 large / 2 small leeks, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp of oil / butter
400g cauliflower, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp Vegetable stock concentrate
250g water
2 Tbsp coconut cream
Recommended seasonings: paprika, salt, pepper

Method
1. Chop Leek for 4 seconds, Speed 5 and scrape down sides
2. Add oil/butter and cook 2 minutes, 100 deg, Speed 1.
3. Add cauliflower. Chop for 5 seconds on Speed 5-6.
4. Add stock and water, cook 20 minutes, 100 deg, speed 1.
5. Add coconut cream, paprika, salt & pepper as required and turn the dial slowly up to blend for 1 minute, Speed 10.

Bechemel Sauce AKA Cauliflower & Leek Soup

As you may have heard in Episode 12 of the podcast, I then used this to make a vegetable lasagne. If that is your intention, you may wish to double this recipe.

I made a bolognese sauce, according to the Australian Every Day Cookbook but DOUBLE the quantity. The mince cooked in the Varoma basket until the end, when I combined.

Instead of lasagne noodles, I used thinly sliced pumpkin & eggplant which had been roasted in the oven.

Soon to become our ‘pasta’…

I then layered into a lasagne dish like so… veggies, mince, bechemel, veggies, mince bechemel…

The dish was then popped into a 200 degree oven for 20 minutes, then under the grill for 10 minutes. Note, if you have an oven with an element in it, just use that!

If you don’t need to be dairy free, add cheese to the top to brown. If you don’t want to be grain free, feel free to add lasagne noodles as you usually would.

This was DELICIOUS, but quite messy once cut! Enjoy!

Vegetable Lasagne… with mince!