Cauliflower Gratin

March 11, 2016

The latest healthy eating trends have had a lot of positive impact I feel in our lives by pushing chefs and home cooks alike to rethink the way we eat and to come up with original ways to ingest more produce and whole foods. Every year now there seems to be a star vegetable in the spotlight and if like me you go out on a regular basis you’ll have noticed that the humble cauliflower is now really having its moment! Whether served as a main course (cauliflower steak!), in the ubiquitous warm appetizer salad on almost every menu these days or in the latest craze of ‘cauliflower rice’, its benefits and versatility deserved every bit of stardom they are now getting.

I could have tried here one of these new inventive recipes but sometimes the comfort of a classic appeals to me more and this Cauliflower Gratin is just that: an easy, foolproof comforting dish I feel everyone should have in its repertoire. Even those who say they ‘hate’ cauliflower (we all know them!) will change their mind after trying this, trust me.

Despite being a fairly classic recipe, I still punched it up a notch by grabbing these attractive purple cauliflowers at my local vegetable stand. Not only is it one of my favorite colors, but they also tend to be slightly sweet with nutty nuances which lends itself perfectly well to a gratin dish. Did you know their color is due to the presence of the antioxidant anthocyanin, same one found in red cabbage and red wine?

You can make the simple cheesy sauce while the cauliflower cooks in less than 10 minutes so it’s easy enough for a weeknight dinner and makes a tasty side dish for pretty much any protein like steak, chicken or fish.

OR you can treat it as a main meal like I did as I happen to LOVE cauliflower (and obviously cheese…I’m French after all!) and this is pretty much a low carb version of mac and cheese. You’ll find a similar creaminess and comfort when digging into this luscious bowl without the guilt trip that usually follows and will agree that cauliflower is a good substitute for pasta – a new star is born indeed!

If I can add just one more selling point, it’s also the kind of unfussy dish that can be prepared ahead and left in the turned off oven for as long as an hour before serving it. The sauce will prevent it from drying out and the low temperature will keep it nicely warm while slightly thickening the sauce.