Le chou-fleur, as we call it in France, is one of my favorite. In soups, sauté in a sage brown butter, raw with aioli, love it!

This is a recipe that came from my family, my mother grew up in Savoie, which is the French Alps, near Grenoble. I have to say there’s one thing I really like about that region, it’s the cheese!! Roblechon, Gruyère, Emmental, Beaufort, to name just a couple. Fondue, raclette, tartiflette, gratin dauphinois, all come from that region and you can pretty much taste cheese in everything that comes to the table especially in winter.

Ingredients:

1 whole cauliflower (cleaned and steamed)

Béchamel sauce (butter, flour, salt pepper, nutmeg, milk)

1 cup of grated cheese, something with some fat, like a Gruyère, or Emmental

This is great side dish, you can serve it with meat, I served mine on Saturday with my roasted lamb.

Just clean and steam your cauliflower. You can do it whole or break it into pieces (as I prefer) and then set them aside in a oven safe dish. If you like your cauliflower to be a bit more crunchy, just don’t steam it too long. I like mine to be really cooked and you will see why.

I make a béchamel by melting some butter, about 1/4. When it start foaming I had 1/4 cup of all purpose flour. I whisk it in until smooth, let it cook for a couple minutes but you don’t want the butter to brown!

Then add about 2 cups of milk and whisk vigorously to prevent any lumps. On a medium heat, just let the béchamel thicken, whisk gently, you don’t want anything to burn. When the béchamel turns into a thick creamy sauce I take it off the heat and  add salt and pepper to taste. Grate some nutmeg. I pour the béchamel on top of my cauliflower. And cover it with the cheese.

Put the dish under the broiler until golden brown and serve!

This will put a smile on your face. I like my cauliflower to be well cooked, I enjoy more the creamy texture mixed in with the sauce. It’s like eating a rich purée.

Bon Appétit!