This vegetarian cauliflower casserole with cheese and gluten free Bechamel is the best! This easy and simple side dish is deliciously creamy and cheesy.
This French cauliflower gratin is healthy and comforting.
Once again, here is a revised version of one of the most popular French side dishes. This version with gluten free and milk free Bechamel, not only adapts to food intolerances but it is also much lighter than the original one which uses butter and milk.
It will soon become one of your go-to vegetable side dishes.
Ingredients
- cauliflower. You can either use fresh or frozen cauliflower. Personnaly, I like to use frozen cauliflower as it will already be cut into florets. It saves time and makes it easier to make a smaller batch (you just take the amount of cauliflower florets you need out of the freezer and that's it).
- Bechamel sauce. It is a French white medium-thick sauce. It is usually made with butter and wheat flour. Although here, I'm using a gluten free, dairy free version of it. You can find the recipe here. This sauce is used a lot in France to make all kinds of casserole or, as we call them "gratin". This sauce makes it much easier for kids to eat vegetables.
- grated cheese of your choice. This recipe is usually made with gruyere cheese. But as I can't have cow dairy I'm using sheep cheese (a French cheese called Ossau-Iraty). You can also use cheddar, emmental or whatever you prefer.
- garlic clove
- salt and pepper to taste
How to make this
Cut head cauliflower into florets, rince them and cook them for 5 minutes (7 minutes if you are using frozen cauliflower straight out of the freezer) in a large pot of boiling salted water.
Drain cauliflower.
Then transfer cauliflower to a baking dish.
Then add minced garlic to the Bechamel sauce and pour the Bechamel sauce over the cauliflower. Add salt and pepper to taste (but do not forget that the Bechamel sauce is already seasoned).
Afterwards, add half the grated cheese to the cauliflower and mix well. Then add the other half of grated cheese all over the cauliflower. (That's to avoid having all the cheese on top and nothing on the bottom). Finally, bake for about 30 minutes and voilà! Serve the cauliflower casserole warm.
Other recipes with Bechamel sauce
Creamy Vegetarian Cauliflower Casserole with cheese
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower or 2.2 pounds (1kg) frozen cauliflower florets
- 50 cl Bechamel sauce (click here to see the recipe)
- 150 g grated cheese of your choice (gruyère, emmental, cheddar, ossau-iraty...)
- 1 garlic clove minced
- Pinch of salt
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 355° F (180°)
- Cut head cauliflower into florets, rince them.
- Cook the cauliflower florets for 5 minutes (7 minutes if you are using frozen cauliflower straight out of the freezer) in a large pot of boiling salted water.
- Drain cauliflower and transfer it to a baking dish.
- Add minced garlic to the Bechamel sauce and pour the Bechamel sauce over the cauliflower. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Add grated cheese all over the cauliflower, bake for about 30 minutes and voilà! Serve warm.Bon appétit!
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