Want to make your vegetables fancier?
Practice making French sauces. This painfully simple cauliflower preparation is smothered in mornay sauce, which itself is an adaptation of the classic French béchamel sauce.
Mornay may sound intimidating to make, but I promise, it’s a nice way to ease yourself into the world of sauces. First you make béchamel, which involves whisking together butter, flour, half and half, and mozzarella until it’s just barely boiling. To turn this into mornay, simply add in a touch of cream, an egg yolk, and some Parmesan cheese.
That’s my version, and there are plenty of variations. Once you’ve mastered béchamel and mornay, you can move on to sauces like beurre blancs, which take a little more skill. Although you’ll spend some energy whisking together the sauce for this dish, the cauliflower takes no effort. Simply blanch it in a large pot.
Then the fun part, putting together the gratin. Pour a little of the mornay sauce in the bottom of a pan, then top with cauliflower.
Pour the remaining sauce on top and sprinkle with some hazelnuts (for an extra crunch) and more Parmesan. Because why not.
Pop that in the oven for 20 minutes and you’ve got a beautiful cauliflower gratin that’s rich, delicious, and something to be proud of.
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon flour
- 1.5 cup half and half
- 2 ounce mozzarella, cut into small pieces
- 1 teaspoon salt
- pinch of nutmeg
- ⅓ cup cream
- ½ cup parmesan
- 1 egg yolks
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2.5 lbs cauliflower, cored and cut into 1 inch pieces
- ¼ cup parmesan, grated
- ⅓ cup hazelnuts, chopped
- Melt butter in a small pot over medium heat. Add flour and whisk.
- Add in half and half, whisking constantly, until it just starts to boil. Stir in mozzarella and continue to whisk until melted and sauce starts to thicken, about 3 minutes. Add salt and nutmeg.
- Remove sauce from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Whisk in egg yolks, cream, parmesan, and pepper. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add cauliflower florets, cover with lid, and cook for 6 minutes.
- Drain water and run cauliflower under cold water. Transfer florets to a paper towel lined plate to dry.
- Pour a thin layer of mornay sauce to coat the bottom of a 10 inch square baking dish. Arrange cauliflower florets on top of sauce and top with remaining mornay sauce.
- Sprinkle chopped hazelnuts and parmesan on top.
- Bake for about 15 minutes. Turn broiler onto high and cook until top starts to brown, about 5 minutes.
Random. I almost made a similar dish yesterday but was feeling lazy and ended up just doing a garlic/dill mashed cauliflower. Looking at your pics I wish I’d put in the effort.
writes danHa! Mashed cauliflower also sounds delicious. I think we’ve got ample opportunity to try both in the next month or so.
writes Vicky[…] béchamel, the hollandaise, the mornay, the romesco—they’re all lovely. You know what else they require? […]
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