
If the French celebrated Thanksgiving, I’m sure they’d find a place at the table for this cauliflower gratin recipe. Simply made, appealingly rustic, and very tasty, it can sit alongside a main course or, with a little salad (and maybe even some cranberry sauce), take the stage alone for brunch, lunch, or supper. The recipe was given to me more than twenty-five years ago, and after making it the first time, I wrote in the margin that it was a little like a quiche (it’s really only the addition of flour that sets it apart from a quiche filling) and in some ways like a pudding, in that it’s rich, soft, and creamy. It’s a classic—it was popular when it was first passed along to me, and it’s a recipe that’s still treasured today. Serve it alongside anything roasted—it’s nice with something a little rich like a roast—or have it with a salad and call it supper.–Dorie Greenspan
LC A Cauliflower Scorned Note
If you know of anyone who can’t bear cauliflower, you may coax them into trying Dorie Greenspan’s spectacularly indulgent cauliflower gratin recipe, which envelopes the potentially offensive little florets in a luxurious and really quite forgiving blanket of cream, egg, Gruyère, and bacon. And if that still doesn’t do the trick, well, you did what you could. It just means there’s more for you.
Cauliflower Gratin Recipe
Ingredients
- Butter, for the baking dish
- 1 cauliflower (a medium head, about 2 1/2 pounds or so)
- 1/4 pound bacon, cut crosswise into slender strips
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 5 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- Freshly grated nutmeg
- 3 ounces Gruyère (you can use Emmenthal or even Swiss in a pinch), grated
Directions
- 1. Adjust the oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 425° F (232°C). Generously butter a 2 1/2-quart ovenproof dish and place it on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper. (It’s not elegant and it’s a tad too big, but a 9-by-13-inch baking dish works fine.)
- 2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut florets from the cauliflower, leaving about an inch or so of stem. Drop the florets into the boiling water and cook until fork-tender, anywhere from 4 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of the florets. (Alternatively, you can steam the florets over salted water.) Drain and rinse the cauliflower florets under cold running water to cool them and pat them completely dry.
- 3. While the cauliflower is cooking, toss the bacon strips into a heavy skillet, place the skillet over medium heat, and cook just until the bacon is browned but not crisp. Drain and pat dry.
- 4. Spread the cauliflower in the buttered pan and scatter the bacon over the top.
- 5. Place the flour in a bowl and gradually whisk in the eggs until blended. Slowly whisk in the cream and milk. Season the mixture with the salt, pepper, and nutmeg and stir in about 2/3 of the cheese. Pour the mixture over the cauliflower and bacon, shaking the pan a little so that the liquid settles between the florets. Scatter the remaining cheese over the top.
- 6. Bake the cauliflower-bacon gratin for about 25 minutes, or until puffed and golden and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. If the top isn’t as brown as you’d like, run the gratin under the broiler for a couple of minutes.
- 7. The gratin is best just from the oven or warm, although it can be enjoyed at room temperature, just like a quiche. You really should eat the cauliflower-bacon gratin the day it’s made, but if you’ve got leftovers, cover and refrigerate them, then let them come to room temperature or warm briefly and gently in the oven.
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Made it today: delicious and easy to make :-)
So glad you’ve joined the ranks of our many testers who loved this gratin as well. Thanks for giving it a whirl (but with Dorie, really, how could you go wrong?).
Bacon…is there anything it can’t do?
Mike, don’t think so!
Made this last night. I steamed the cauliflower and made it without bacon or cheese and 3/4 cup of creme fraiche as I didn’t have cream. It took an hour to bake however in my professional convection oven. It was delicious. Omitting those ingredients made it less calorific but it was still very tasty. I served it as a main after a fresh heirloom tomato and avocado salad. It was beautiful and brown and bubbly and equally delicious for lunch today. Definitely will make it again and bake it longer than 25 minutes.
Lovely Ariel Michael- love your lower calorie adaptations!
We loved this dish so much, I would definitely make it again, and most certainly for company. While it is a bit hearty with regard to all the eggs, cream, cheese, and such, it could be altered for less guilt, though perhaps a few nights of salad afterwards, and a walk through the park, will be sufficient penance. ;-)
Such a beautiful presentation. I thought a 13-by-9-inch baking dish would be sized for overkill, so I used a smaller, round casserole dish—perfect! Next time, I will add bread crumbs on top for just a little extra something.
Again, a great recipe from Leite’s. This one is not only worthy of printing, but even deserves its own protective cover to keep it safe. Love it! Thank you, Leite’s.
Hello, Karen. Yes, it’s a wee bit on the hearty side, but I like your expertise regimen antidote. And although I’m definitely a do-as-I-say,-not-as-I-do kind of guy, moderation in all things is good. Thank you for your kind words, and keep coming back! We love your riffs on our recipes.
Made this today, as main course with a salad. Good. Nothing to tell stories about though …
What didn’t work for you, Carmen?
So good, I had leftovers for breakfast. My foodie friends and I loved this dish. I rarely follow a recipe to the letter, but the picture of the gratin looked so beautiful I wanted my final dish to taste as good as it looked. The only exception to your posted recipe was adding about 3/4 to 1 cup of diced onions sautéed in butter with thyme as an idea mentioned in the “Around my French Table” cookbook. I mixed the onions with the bacon and then added it with the cauliflower. I used approximately 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, about 1 teaspoon fresh pepper, and a heaping 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. I think I could have used a little more salt. The final dish was just a delicious as I had hoped it would be. I served this gratin with herb roasted chicken, sautéed green beans with carrots and almonds along with a French Rose. I will definitely be making this gratin again. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture.
Cheriede, lovely! Many kind thanks for taking the time to let us know—we so appreciate it! As for next time, if you’d like to make it ahead of time, I see no reason why you couldn’t assemble it early in the day, cover and refrigerate it, and then slide it in the oven just before dinner, allowing a few extra minutes to take the chill off the gratin.