What started out as lunch and a movie with my sister today, ended up with my going to her house to prep a cauliflower gratin for a dinner party that she was having. I may be the younger sibling and a bit slow on the uptake sometimes but I knew that we were headed in that direction as soon as we started talking about what she should serve.
Based on the photo above, which she just sent me, the dish was a success. This gratin could be prepped the day before needed and finished in the oven at the last minute.
1 head cauliflower, trimmed and cut into bite sized florets
1/2 cup cream
1/4 cup + 1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup + 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup panko
Salt to taste
Bring a large pan of water to boil over medium heat. Add the cauliflower florets and cook, covered, until fork tender. The cooking time will very much depend on the size of your florets; mine took about 6 minutes. Steaming the florets would work too.
Drain the cauliflower in a colander and place 1/2 of the florets in a buttered oven safe casserole dish. Salt.
Return the other half of the cauliflower to the still hot pan, along with the cream, 1/4 cup of the butter and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan. The residual heat from the pan and the cauliflower will melt the butter and the cheese. Use an immersion blender to blitz this into a silky smooth cream.
Pour this mixture over the cauliflower florets in the buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle with panko and the remaining Parmesan. Dot with the remaining butter, cut into small pieces.
All that is the part that you can prepare in advance. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350. If making in one go, from start to finish, start preheating the oven as soon as you have dropped the cauliflower florets in the boiling water.
Place the casserole dish in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until heated through and golden brown on top.
My sister served this with a simple flounder dish but grilled pork would taste good as well, I think. I also can see this dish making an excellent pasta sauce with, perhaps, the addition of golden raisins and pine nuts.