Featured
Soul Warming Recipes!
Big Green Egg
Featured
Hot & Spicy!
K’s Choice
Peppery Chicken Curry
Fonq
FM
Cauliflower, Potato and Tomato Gratin
On my side of the pond we eat cauliflower covered with loads of gooey cheese sauce. Indecent amounts almost. We’re not alone in that, are we? I hope not since it’s a match made in culinary heaven.
What’s even easier is throwing everything into a big ole casserole and let the oven work for you. Add a handful of cherry tomatoes for a bit of zing and color, throw some leek into the sauce to spice it up a bit, just make everyday food a little more special.
This here is my son’s all-time favorite side dish. Especially when served alongside a huge pan filled with Dutch meatballs, he’s one seriously happy toddler. A happy toddler is a happy momma, so guess what we’re having for dinner!
Ingredients:
1 pound potatoes
1 head of cauliflower
12 cherry tomatoes
1 medium leek
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cup of milk
5 oz grated cheese
1/4 tsp paprika powder
flat-leaf parsley
nutmeg
pepper
salt
Directions:
Cut the cauliflower into small florets and parboil them in lightly salted water for about 10 minutes.
Peel, wash and cube the potatoes and parboil them in salted water for 10 minutes as well.
Wash and cut a leek in half-rings. Discard the dark green parts. The leek really adds depth to the cheese sauce.
Grate or finely mince the garlic.
Wash, dry and finely chop a good handful of flat-leaf parsley.
Grate some aged cheese—surprise, surprise, I used Gouda—and I still had some cheddar that needed to be used up. Just add whatever kind of cheese makes you happy.
Cherry tomatoes really add flavor and tang to the gratin. Not to mention an absolutely wicked color.
Making the cheese sauce first. Melt the butter and cook the leeks for 2 minutes before adding the garlic.
Add 3 heaping tbsp flour and cook for 2 minutes to neutralize the rawness. Pour in the milk until you have a consistency you like—for me that’s usually the full 1 1/2 cup—and simmer the sauce for a minute or two/three. Season with pepper, salt, 1/4 tsp sweet paprika powder, a hint of nutmeg and melt in half the grated cheese.
Turn off the heat and stir in the flat-leaf parsley.
In the mean time the potatoes and cauliflower will be done. Drain them and put the cauliflower in a casserole, top with the cherry tomatoes and finish with the potatoes.
Drizzle the sauce all over. This looks good enough to eat without the casserole ever having seen the oven. I’m a sucker for saucy casseroles.
Top the gratin with the remaining cheese.
Bake the gratin in a preheated oven at 350F (180C) for 25 to 30 minutes. Until bubbly hot and golden brown. Garnish with a little extra parsley.
This is the life, guys…. this is the life. Good food doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as easy as cauliflower and potatoes.
Kay’s Recipe Card
Click here for printable size.
| Cauliflower, Potato and Tomato Gratin | |
| Ingredients |
1 head of cauliflower 12 cherry tomatoes 1 medium leek 1 garlic clove 2 tbsp butter 3 tbsp flour 1 1/2 cup of milk 5 oz grated cheese 1/4 tsp paprika powder flat-leaf parsley nutmeg pepper salt |
| Directions |
Melt the butter and cook the leeks for 2 minutes before adding the garlic. Add 3 heaping tbsp flour and cook for 2 minutes to neutralize the rawness. Pour in the milk until you have a consistency you like—for me that’s usually the full 1 1/2 cup—and simmer the sauce for a minute or two/three. Season with pepper, salt, 1/4 tsp sweet paprika powder, a hint of nutmeg and melt in half the grated cheese. Turn off the heat and stir in the flat-leaf parsley. Drain the potatoes and cauliflower, grab a big casserole, put the cauliflower in a casserole, top with the cherry tomatoes and finish with the potatoes. drizzel the sauce all over and top with the remaining cheese. Bake the gratin in a preheated oven at 350F (180C) for 25 to 30 minutes. Until bubbly hot and golden brown. Garnish with a little extra parsley. |
| Meal type: | casserole |
| Servings: | 4 |
| copyright © kayotickitchen.com | |
Yummy!
Although our family has always liked cauliflower, we were bored of having to eat it in the same way everytime. This is a great idea which, I’m sure will put us back into the mood! I think that I will use a combo of cauliflower/broccoli? What do you think? Also, since you are so innovative with vegetables, I would love to see how you would serve broccoli.
Thanks
@aadila:
I’ll often mix it, too! Looks even more cheerful with a handful of broccoli thrown in there! You could even add some lightly sauteed onions!
mmmm, looks great. I know what we’re having for supper tonight!
I think I’ll serve it with “rundervinken”‘.
This sounds rich and delish!
Oh my, I have leek and half a cauliflower in the fridge, along with some cheddar. I guess I know what’s for dinner tonight. It looks simple, easy and absolutely yummy! Thank you : )
And I am keeping my fingers crossed for a happy toddler too. I love those!
Oh, that does look tasty! I especially like the idea of adding in some broccoli and onions (perhaps in place of the tomatoes, since I’m not much of a fan of tomatoes). But really anything with cheese sauce is bound to be delicious!
Absolutely brilliant combination! I would never have thought of putting cherry tomatoes with cauliflower, but I’ll bet it is just delicious. Must give this a try very soon!
Here in the US, we also like cauliflower with cheese sauce. So much so that they sell cauliflower frozen WITH the cheese sauce already added. It’s not very good, though. Homemade is much better, and this looks terrific. Cauliflower potato gratin is one of my favorite dishes, and I like this cheese sauce take. Will have to try it soon!
Looks yummy Kay!
BTW i love the cherry tomato photo, it made me stop and ponder before i read the rest of the recipe!!!
Few things are as good as cauliflower with cheese… It’s been too long since I had that, I should really make one of those dishes soon!
This looks great. Thanks for the recipe. Are you going to share the meatball recipe too :)
Ik zit nu te stuiteren (heeeel positief!)! Ik ben gek op bloemkool en dit is echt echt hemels! Ik ga dit met spoed maken!
I did end up making a variation on this tonight. I wanted a one-pot meal, so I added some pan-cooked brussels sprouts and some chicken (kip blokjes) to it. It was wonderful! Next time I make it, I might add ham or bacon instead of the chicken to make it pop a bit more. The cheese sauce was wonderful, and I might start making it to add to all sorts of things! Thank you for such great inspiration!
True comfort food. Just what I need after last week’s snow storm and this week’s cold snap.
I’ve been trying to learn to love new vegetables (brussels sprouts? TOTAL success), so I’ll have to try this! When I was a kid I never tried any new vegetables (I only ate about five kinds), and now I’m in the process of figuring out which ones I actually do hate, and which ones I only avoided because I felt like I wouldn’t like them. Can you tell I was a picky child?
OMG, that looks heavenly!
@Alison:
Just throw in whatever you like and leave out whatever you don’t like and it’ll work, trust me :)
It looks so sweet, thx for your recipe.
Great recipe! I love your using simple ingredients in a cool way.
I randomly have all the ingredients for this, I’ll be making this tomorrow. :D
I really like the sound adding tomatoes to a gratin!
Kay,
Clicking on your photos brings me to a Flickr page that says the photo is private. Is this by intent, or did you forget to allow people to view the recipe photos for this recipe?
Cheers from Canada!
@Keith:
That’s on purpose, Keith. I’ve had some problems with people duplicating my recipes before they were even published, so I now upload them to flickr privately until I publish the posting but I keep forgetting to make them public afterwards :).
I made this for Christmas dinner and it was quite a hit. I think it need something else though. What do you think about adding some roasted garlic. I used graded white chedder and parm. Maybe a different/better cheese would have worked better. All in all a great dish!!!
Oh my this is a wonderful recipe, an excellent way of sneaking vegetables in the mouths of toddlers.