Art of the Home


Cauliflower Cheese Recipe: Cauliflower Gratin Sauce Mornay

Delicious Fall Cauliflower CheeseDelicious Fall Cauliflower Cheese Recipe: Chou-fleur au Gratin


Cauliflower are typically back in season in September. They return to the farmers market around mid-September and we’ll probably see them thru Thanksgiving. So let’s enjoy the first cauliflower of the fall with a cauliflower cheese recipe that only takes a few minutes to prepare and can be on the table in less than 30 minutes. This cauliflower gratin dish is very appetizing and with its creamy sauce, a delightful mornay sauce, it will warm you up when the weather is cooling off. The key component and exciting part of this cauliflower cheese recipe is indeed its mornay sauce. And this sauce is so easy and quick to make! A mornay sauce is done in less than 10 minutes and is simply a bechamel sauce with some cheese (typically gruyère in it) — easy enough?

Cauliflower Cheese Recipe:

Cauliflower Gratin in Mornay Sauce (Chou-fleur au Gratin)

You will also need a fresh head of cauliflower, preferably locally grown when available. So check below for the detailed steps to make this easy cauliflower cheese recipe: our cauliflower gratin in mornay sauce dish. We also included Art of the Home suggestions with meal ideas to get dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes — got to love that. Enjoy and bon appétit!

A Quick and Easy Fall Cauliflower Cheese Recipe

Cauliflower Gratin in Mornay Sauce (Chou-Fleur au Gratin)

INGREDIENTS (for 6 servings)

    • 1 medium organic cauliflower
    • 2 cups of bechamel sauce
    • 1 cup of shredded gruyère
    • 1-2 Tbsp butter

 
DIRECTIONS

  1. Cut cauliflower in small florets.
  2. Cook in boiling water for about 10 minutes. It should be “al dente” when it’s done — if you cook it too long it will get mushy.  Remove and place in a baking dish in a single layer.
  3. While the cauliflower are cooking, prepare your bechamel sauce.
  4. Then, grate about 1 cup of gruyère. Mix 2/3 of a cup with your bechamel sauce – and voilà, you made a “sauce mornay”. Save the rest of the gruyère to sprinkle over the cauliflower prior to putting your baking dish in the oven.
  5. Pre-heat oven to 450 °F.
  6. Pour the mornay sauce over the cauliflower florets.
  7. Sprinkle with the rest of the gruyère and dot with butter.
  8. Put baking dish in a pre-heated oven and baked for about 10-15 minutes. During the last few minutes of cooking, set broiler on high for a nice gratin color (but keep monitoring so it doesn’t get too dark). Enjoy!

 
A FEW SUGGESTIONS

    • Cauliflower cheese recipe with various cheeses: if you don’t have gruyère, feel free to use swiss cheese or make it “à l’Americaine” with some cheddar cheese!  Or why not make your cauliflower cheese recipe Franco-American? Put half gruyère and half cheddar — love a cultural exchange!
    • Meal ideas: make a quick dinner with a few slices of ham on the side. For a weekend meal, fancy up your cauliflower gratin with lamb or give it a country feel with grilled sausage.
    • Leftovers: purée leftovers — great light lunch or dinner with a green salad! Freezes well too.
    • To minimize cauliflower odors in Step. 1, check Art of Home easy tricks to reduce cauliflower smell in the kitchen.

Cauliflower Cheese Recipe: Cauliflower Gratin in Mornay Sauce