A recipe for a creamy and cheesy Purple Cauliflower and Potato Gratin with a crispy topping. It starts out with a roux, béchamel, oodles of cheese and breadcrumbs that help form a crispy top crust.
Purple Cauliflower and Potato Gratin
I don’t need a day to remind me how much I love the people dear to me. It’s these meals together with the ones I love that I cherish the most.These meals together make my stomach content and my heart very happy.
You could make this gratin with white cauliflower or even with just potatoes and the besciamella. If you will use only potatoes, I would double the amount. I used my besciamella recipe and the portion was perfect for a 10×6 casserole dish. This dish is incredible. I would’ve been happy eating it alone with a great salad. Or even alone without a salad. It smells heavenly while it’s baking and good luck waiting for it to cool before taking that first cheesy and dreamy bite.
Purple Cauliflower and Potato Gratin
1 cauliflower head (I used a purple one), cut into bite-sized pieces
4 medium sized potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
1 medium onion, sliced thin
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 cup Gruyère cheese cut into small chunks (or whatever soft cheese you’d like)
3-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
Besciamella Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups whole milk
teaspoon nutmeg
la besciamella directions:
vegetables:
Preheat oven to 420F. Sauté’ the onion in a large frying pan with 1-2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil until translucent and golden brown.
In the meantime, boil the cauliflowers and potatoes in two different medium sauce pans until they are tender. The vegetables should still have a little crunch and it should only take a few minutes. Be sure to not overcook the vegetables.
Drain the veggies and place in a large bowl. Season the vegetables with salt, pepper, and 1-2 tablespoon of olive oil. Both vegetables will continue cooking in casserole with the besciamella sauce.
Bake at 420 F for about 20 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown on top.
buon appetito! Hope you are having a fabulous week!
Purple Cauliflower and Potato Gratin
Ingredients
- 1 cauliflower head I used a purple one, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 4 medium sized potatoes peeled and sliced thin
- 1 medium onion sliced thin
- 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 1 cup Gruyère cheese cut into small chunks or whatever soft cheese you’d like
- 3-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
- Besciamella Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 1/2 cups whole milk
- teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
- For the Besciamella (white sauce)
- Melt the butter in a heavy medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk together until incorporated. The flour will be very dry. Raise the heat to medium-high and in 1/2 cup portions, gradually whisk in the milk and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 5 minutes. The besciamella will continue to thicken even when you remove from the heat. If it seems to dense, whisk in a little bit more of mil. Whisk in the nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- For the Vegetables
- Preheat oven to 420F. Sauté’ the onion in a large frying pan with 1-2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil until translucent and golden brown.
- In the meantime, boil the cauliflowers and potatoes in two different medium sauce pans until they are tender. The vegetables should still have a little crunch and it should only take a few minutes. Be sure to not overcook the vegetables.
- Drain the veggies and place in a large bowl. Season the vegetables with salt, pepper, and 1-2 tablespoon of olive oil. Both vegetables will continue cooking in casserole with the besciamella sauce.
- Spoon a portion of the besciamella over the bottom of the casserole. Layer the vegetables on top. Spread the rest of the besciamella on top. Toss on the Gruyère cheese and sprinkle on the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
- Bake at 420 F for about 20 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown on top.
Bella, thank you for posting this recipe..I'm always looking for gratin recipes since I became a vegetarian…love the purple cauliflower & potatoes combo! Yum!
Gratin dishes are delicious. Using purple cauliflower was such a great idea. It makes this dish look so beautiful. Thank you for sharing!
Ohhh, this is such a cool color combination. I bet this is divine.
I love the color purple, so I will have to make this wonderful veggie gratin. the purple color is so unexpected, but I'm sure that it tastes so good..1
I love the color of the cauliflower. This sounds good.
This is such a beautiful dish, I love the purple, it makes the gratin look so elegant!
I just discovered the purple cauliflower last weekend at the market! well, I'd seen them before, just hadn't ever bought one. I picked one up and have been wondering what to do with it and this looks like it just might please everyone!
YUM Lora. What a deliciously colorful gratin. Love it.
What a great idea to use purple cauliflower in the gratin! I just love the colors!
Wow that purple cauliflower is beautiful! I don't think I've ever tried it. Def will have to give this gratin a try. Looks delicious!
Lora , not only is it absolutely beautiful with that purple cauliflower peeking out from all the creamy, cheesy goodness, but I have this slotted in for Sundeay dinner with brisket. I'll post a photo on Twitter when I make it – I'm so craving veggie gratins now – how did you know? 😉
Lisa, baby, you make it then all three of us will have passed the dish around – and can pretend we are sitting down to a meal together 🙂
Yes, Jamie. We could pretend we are all enjoying a meal together. 🙂
Lora, cara, bella, I am thrilled that you grabbed something from my blog, out of my kitchen and prepared it for your little family. And I agree with you about sitting down together as a family, enjoying a meal, talking, laughing is such a special moment that should be lived as often as possible. And an earthy, humble, simple yet luxurious Cauliflower Gratin is the perfect family dish. Beautiful, eye-popping color for one of our favorite vegetables! One day we all will enjoy a meal together!
Such gorgeous color! I've seen it at the supermarkets here but they don't carry it all the time. Gratin looks so comforting, Lora. Besos <3
Goregous!! I bet my girls owuld love this, thanks for sharing!
Brava!!! Che bel post!! Mi piace!!!
Io non festeggio San Valentino, adoro però i cuori tutto l'anno!!! Niente ristoranti affollati, ma tanto amore e calore di casa!!!
Splendido colore!! Piatto meraviglioso!!!
Ti mando un bacio grosso grosso!!!!
grazie, Lory!si…anche qui-tanto amore e calore di casa:)un bacione!
I love it. I'll bet I could get Dudette to eat zucchini if it was colored purple or blue. How do they come up with these vegetables? Your gratin is perfect; just the right combination of creamy and gooey.
This really sounds delicious. This was my first visit to your blog, so I took some time to browse through your earlier posts. I'm so glad I did that.I really like the food and recipes you share with your readers and I'll definitely be back. I hope you have a great day. Blessings…Mary
Thank you for your kind comment, Mary. I appreciate you coming over and for your compliment:)Have a great rest of the week!
Goodness! I'm coming over!! I bet there aren't any leftovers though 🙁
A fabulous meal with the ones I love is pretty much the perfect meal! I love the popping purple, it really does make me consider actual liking the color purple (I'm a red kinda girl, not a pink and purple girl).
Red is fun! I agree…nothing beats a great meal with the ones you love:)
Yum! I'm sitting here drooling 😉
"Spice it Up"