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.
Oh yum, what a great side. This is amazing – I never cook with purple cauli but it's so beautiful
what a gorgeous gratin! the color really pops!
I agree. The color of the cauliflower is incredible:)
This is definitely the prettiest gratin I've seen!
thanks so much, Lauren:)
Purple cauli is so darn pretty…love the way it's peaking out from the cheese!
What a beautiful recipe! I love the pop of color in this delicious dish.
So pretty! That purple peeking out from under a blanket of cheese, omg… stop me now.
Gratins are so irresistible! This is so gorgeous with the purple cauliflower! I'm sorry you had problems with my site Lora! I've been having issues. I did some trouble shooting and hope it's cleared up now. xoxo
I've been wanting to make something with purple cauliflower for a while now (its just so pretty!) and I think this is it! This gratin looks amazing!
Also, how the heck did you get a reply button on your comments? I've been trying to get one on my own blog for forever now and can't figure out how to do it!
Great looking gratin, Lora, I could have been happy with it tonight since I didn't cook much:(. Love purple cauliflower!! 🙂 Sounds like a fantastic Valentine's Day.
Okay, I am so making purple cauliflower this weekend. I kind of forgot about it! It's such a great winter veggie and your recipe looks amazing. Thanks for the inspiration!
The color is gorgeous!!! I could eat this dish as a main course also. Your "second thought" dinner idea couldn't have been better, although I'm curious about the simple pasta dish also!
Love this, looks so comforting and perfect for the cool winter months!
Purple cauliflower could be considered an interesting ingredient. Thank you for posting this recipe.
Love the purple cauliflower!
Two of my nieces are mad about purple, they'd love the photo of the cauliflower. I love it too and adding in to potato gratin is a great idea! The dish looks really tasty.
That looks amazing! I so need purple cauliflower in my life.
Mmm, I lpve purple cauliflower, and this makes the whole dish so colorful 🙂 Looks fantastically yummy.
i love purple cauliflower. first time I bought it didn't quite know what to expect and since then I rarely buy the white one.
this dish sounds great Lora! i bet it disappeared in a heart beat!
I have seen purple cauliflower in our supermarkets here but didn't quite know what to do with it. And your recipe is the answer to my curiosity. I love a good potato gratin, and adding a vege to it is just perfect! xoxo, Jo
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