There are few dishes as comforting and versatile as a baked cauliflower and cheese casserole. Creamy, cheesy, and golden on top, this recipe is both filling and light, making it a great choice when you want a vegetarian meal that feels indulgent but still wholesome.
A few days ago, while shopping at the supermarket, I spotted a perfectly fresh cauliflower. It immediately reminded me of a recipe from Sanda Marin’s famous Romanian cookbook, a culinary classic that has been passed down for generations. Inspired by the traditional Romanian baked cauliflower with cheese (conopidă cu brânză la cuptor), I decided to prepare my own variation. Since our family loves cheese, we naturally added a little extra. The result was so delicious, I knew it had to be shared.
This cauliflower gratin is part of the broader European tradition of oven-baked casseroles, similar to the French gratin de chou-fleur or the British cauliflower cheese bake. But the Romanian twist makes it stand out. Instead of cheddar or gruyère, this recipe uses feta-style white cheese (telemea), which adds a tangy, salty kick. Combined with the creaminess of sour cream and the richness of eggs, the flavor is both rustic and elegant—simple ingredients creating something far greater than the sum of their parts.
Why You Should Try It
This baked cauliflower and cheese dish is everything you’d want from comfort food—warm, creamy, and satisfying—yet still light enough for a weeknight dinner. It’s a vegetarian-friendly recipe that makes a great alternative to meat-based meals. At the same time, the extra cheese gives it a modern, indulgent twist. With minimal prep work and the oven doing most of the cooking, it’s wonderfully easy to make. Best of all, even those who usually turn up their nose at cauliflower will find it hard to resist the golden, cheesy crust on top.
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Ingredients
- 1 large cauliflower (about 1–1.2 kg / 2.2–2.6 lbs)
- 250 g (9 oz) greek feta or telemea cheese
- 200 g (7 oz) sour cream
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon flour
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 20 g (1½ tbsp) butter
- 2–3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
For greasing the baking tray:
Instructions
Because the cheese was a little salty for our taste, we soaked it in water for a few hours, then left it to drain in a sieve for half an hour.
In the meantime, we cleaned the cauliflower, cut it into 2-3 cm florets, and removed all the leaves and tough stalks. Boil in lightly salted water for 10–12 minutes until just tender. Don’t overcook—it should stay firm enough to hold its shape in the oven.
Grate the cheese. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, cheese, sour cream, and flour until smooth, then add salt and pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, the cauliflower had boiled, so I drained it, mixed it with the grated cheese and the egg and cream mixture.
I greased the baking tray with butter and coated it with breadcrumbs.
I put the mixture in the baking dish and baked it in a convection oven at 180°C / 350°F for about 40 minutes, until it was slightly golden on top. I covered the tray with aluminum foil for the first 20 minutes.
Finally, I removed the tray with the cauliflower and cheese from the oven and let it cool slightly before serving.
Notes
A trick for coating the baking tray with breadcrumbs: take a small piece of butter (about 20 grams) from the refrigerator and grease the tray well. Put 2-3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs in the tray and cover it with cling film. Rotate the tray so that the breadcrumbs stick well. Remove the cling film and discard the excess breadcrumbs. This way, the tray is evenly covered with breadcrumbs, and the kitchen stays clean.
Unless otherwise specified, feta cheese is Greek, not the Danish variety. The local cheese I often use in this recipe is telemea, made from cow’s milk (there is also a sheep’s milk version) and is almost identical to Greek feta.
