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Cauliflower & Potato Gratin


Shalmanese

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I've been struggling with this same basic dish for quite a while now. Basically, I want Cauliflower and Potatoes in a rich bechamel based sauce, topped with cheese and baked in the oven. However, everytime I've made it, the moisture from the cauliflower turns it more into a soup than a gratin. I've tried par-cooking the cauliflower but, by the time it comes out of the oven, the cauliflower becomes mush. I've tried making it with an extra thick bechamel but I have a hard time distributing the sauce evenly and it still comes out too thin.

I know what I'm after, tender chunks of potato and cauliflower with some bite to it in a creamy sauce but I can't seem to find that elusive recipe.

Here's what I'm currently doing:

In a dutch oven:

Sweat a diced onion in some butter

Add some finely minced garlic and cook for 1 minute

Add a copious amount of flour

Deglaze with white wine, cook for 2 mins

Add whole milk, season with S&P, bay leaves, honey and mustard

Add cubed potato and cook for 5 minutes

Add grated cheese, the cauliflower and mix well and transfer to a baking dish

Sprinkle with more grated cheese and slide into a 350F oven

Cook until the cauliflower is tender and then broil the top until the cheese is brown

Let it sit for 20 minutes for the sauce to thicken slightly.

PS: I am a guy.

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How about slicing the potatoes and cauliflower with a mandoline, put down a thin layer of bechmel on the bottom and lay just a couple of layers of veg in your gratin dish, top with the extra bechmel and cheese.

I do have a gratin cookbook at home - I'll check it out when I get home this evening and see if there are more ideas.

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How about separating out the parts for individual cooking?

Cook the cauliflower in a pan with butter, salt, pepper, no liquid, on medium heat, only partially covered (half-on lid or parchment). It will brown nicely, and you can cook it until it is almost but not quite as tender as you want it.

Pre-cook the potatoes however you please, but make sure that they don't absorb too much water in the process.

Make your bechamel sauce separately, seasoned however you'd like. I like the Bouchon bit about adding the cauliflower stems, but really, just whatever you'd like the sauce to be.

Combine the pre-cooked potatoes and cauliflower in a gratin dish, spoon the bechamel sauce over it, sprinkle with cheese, etc., and stick under the broiler until it is browned...

Should give you the basic idea you are after...

jk

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my basic technique is:

cook cauliflower with minimal water, sometimes in microwave, to just pre-tender.

make sauce "medium" thickness

transfer cauli to baking dish, pour sauce over

add cheese, breadcrumbs, butter.

bake uncovered

Always works. If I'm in a real hurry... I just use heavy cream instead of bechamel.

Karen Dar Woon

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