I prepared this cauliflower gratin three times since the weather cooled down. I like cauliflower so much as it can be prepared in many appetizing ways (the only way I don’t like it that much is just boiled 😉 ).
The other day I was reading about quinoa that said that quinoa is very healthy and is second only to…cauliflower! So, other than poor in calories (what allows us to add cheese and whatever else we want!), it is super healthy, what makes it a complete irresistible choice for any ocasion.
Have you ever tried the cauliflower pizza crust? I have prepared it so many times that I lost the count. And often ate quite it all by myself, so few are the calories ;-)…
But back to this cauliflower gratin, it is a cheesy recipe, as it is not prepared with eggs, as most often, but with…cream cheese! I saw this recipe on the lovely Faith (AnEdibleMosaic.com) post on bonbonbreak.com, and I changed only a couple of things, not adding cream at all, using extra virgin olive oil instead of butter (Mediterranean diet way 😉 ) and sometimes adding the parsley in the middle of the mixture instead of on top.
I love to prepare this kind of dish in advance and then turn on the oven and bake it for lunch or dinner. It is comforting also for this reason ;-).
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- 1 medium cauliflower
- a thread of extra virgin olive oil (about a Tbsp) plus for greasing the dish
- 1 medium onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- ½ tsp thyme
- 4 oz (120 g) cream cheese
- salt
- pepper
- 80 g gruyere cheese (or a savory cheese you prefer) shredded
- fresh parsley
- Wash the cauliflower and cut the florets.
- Steam or boil them until soft.
- Turn on the oven to 400°F/200°C.
- Grease a gratin dish with oil.
- Mince the onion and garlic.
- Add the olive oil to a non-adherent pan and add the minced onion.
- Let it cook, stirring often, until soften.
- Add garlic and thyme and cook a couple of minutes more.
- Turn off the gas.
- Put the cauliflower florets, the cream cheese, onions mixture, salt, pepper and half of the cheese into your food processor and process it until well combined.
- Pour the misture into the greased gratin dish and cover with the remaining shredded cheese and parsley. Bake until lightly brown on surface.
- Buon appetito!
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