This goat cheese and cauliflower mash is either an elegant silky accompaniment to some delicately cooked lamb or a robust and comforting bed on which to serve the weeknight protein of choice. 

I got the idea originally from my sister. Her husband's sister had served them lamb with a cauliflower and chèvre purée which apparently had been restaurant quality and with the amount of l'accents should bloody well be.

Our surroundings at the moment are not restaurant quality, everywhere is covered with boxes of tiles and a layer of dust regardless of my obsessive but futile daily mopping and dusting. We have the world's most useless builder doing our bathroom and it's taking forever. But at least because we have to go shower at the gym we will get some accidental extra exercise and in the end we may be slightly less perfectly fresh but our buns will be steel and abdomens can be used as dinner gongs in Downton Abbey – the Movie.

It is a bit of a palaver though because every time you go to gym you forget something critical, like clean clothes and after the workout and shower you have to go home commando in sweaty running pants. Or you forget your towel and have to skulk around the dressing room starkers and wipe yourself dry with the side of your palm.  

Husband is not as enterprising or persevering so tonight when he forgot his towel he just turned back defeated halfway and asked if there was a chance of a nice dinner instead. 

And of course there was because I was dying to do this cauliflower concoction.

I had a couple of haddock fillets, nothing exciting but pretty lovely when seasoned to perfection and fried in a bit of oil and butter. But the real excitement of the evening was the cauliflower and goat cheese mash.  I made it a bit more robust, even left it rustically (rustic is kind of like lazy but stylishly and intentionally so) lumpy rather than pure until silky smooth. I also did it a bit more filling with half cauliflower and half potato. But you could do it with just cauliflower. 

Husband initially questioned the smell emanating from the kitchen, but when I assured him it was a totes legit smell of boiling cauliflower and nothing to do with the bathroom works he relaxed and happily consumed a healthy portion of the mash and fish.

400g cauliflower

400g potatoes

salt

water

150g soft goat cheese 

2 tbsp of mascarpone or butter

Remove the stalk of the cauliflower and cut the vegetable into pieces. Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Put the cauliflower and potatoes in a pan and cover with water. Add salt. Bring to boil and simmer until vegetables are cooked. Drain reserving some of the water.

Add the chevre and mascarpone or butter. Mash or blend until smooth adding water depending on how thick or thin you like it. Check seasoning and add salt if necessary.