Ina Garten-Inspired Cauliflower Gratin
If a cheese sauce has ever gone grainy on you and you could not work out why, look at the bag.
Pre-grated cheese is dusted with potato starch or powdered cellulose so the shreds do not stick together in the packet. That coating does exactly the same thing in a warm béchamel: it keeps the shreds separate instead of letting them melt into the sauce, and what you get is a slightly gritty liquid with cheese suspended in it. Grate it off the block yourself and the sauce goes smooth and glossy.
It takes three minutes and it is the single most common cause of a failed cheese sauce.
Jump to the recipe ↓Ina Garten-Inspired Cauliflower Gratin
Serves 8 · Side
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 35 min
- Total
- 55 min
Involved8 steps, 11 ingredients, a technique that commonly fails
Ingredients
- 1 large cauliflower, about 1.2 kg, in florets
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 tbsp butter
- 4 tbsp plain flour
- 600 ml whole milk, warmed
- 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 150 g Gruyère, grated from the block
- 80 g Parmesan, grated from the block
- 1 tsp kosher salt, black pepper
- 40 g panko breadcrumbs
Method
- Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan).
- Toss the florets with oil and salt and roast , until browned at the edges. Drop the oven to 200°C.20 minutes
- Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook.2 minutes
- Whisk the warm milk in gradually and simmer until it coats a spoon.
- Add the nutmeg, mustard, salt and pepper.
- Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the Gruyère and half the Parmesan, a handful at a time.
- Fold the cauliflower through and tip into a dish.
- Mix the panko with the remaining Parmesan, scatter over, and bake until bubbling and brown.15 minutes
Take the pan off the heat before the cheese goes in
Cheese is an emulsion of fat, water and protein, and heat above about 70°C breaks it — the protein tightens into strings and the fat pools out as grease. Pull the béchamel off the hob, wait thirty seconds, then stir the cheese in a handful at a time.
Roast the cauliflower rather than boiling it
Boiling waterlogs the florets and gives them nothing back. Roasted at high heat for twenty minutes they lose moisture, brown at the edges and taste nutty. The gratin then has two flavours in it instead of one.
Warm the milk first
Cold milk into a hot roux seizes it into lumps that you then have to whisk out, and every extra minute of whisking is another minute of cooking. Warm milk goes in smoothly and the sauce comes together in half the time.
Storing
Assemble up to two days ahead and refrigerate unbaked; add 10 minutes from cold. Reheating a baked gratin works at 180°C, covered, though the crumb topping never recovers fully.
Questions people ask
Why is my cheese sauce grainy?
Either pre-grated cheese with its anti-caking starch, or the sauce was too hot when the cheese went in.
Can I boil the cauliflower instead?
You can, but it waterlogs and tastes of much less. Roasting is worth the extra step.
Can I make it ahead?
Assemble two days ahead unbaked. Add the crumb topping just before it goes in.
What cheese works besides Gruyère?
Comté, Emmental or a mature cheddar. Cheddar is more likely to split, so be especially careful about the heat.
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Ina Garten-Inspired Beef Tenderloin: Tuck the TailA whole tenderloin tapers from thick to thin. Fold the narrow end under and tie it, or that end is well done before the middle is warm.