Smoky Cauliflower Gratin is a delicious way to prepare cauliflower as a side dish for dinner!
I’m happy to have discovered this recipe in a cookbook (shared below). We make steamed cauliflower all the time at my house for dinner. But that gets rather boring. A good cauliflower gratin is a great change of pace. This is a delicious one!
This recipe comes from Poilâne: The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery by Apollonia Poilâne. The Poilâne Bakery was founded in Paris in 1932 by Apollonia’s grandfather. It supplies 2,000 Parisian restaurants with their bread. And they ship to over 40 countries.
This book is very cool. But I believe it’s more for the advanced foodie who may like trying to cook some really different things in the kitchen. These aren’t your everyday recipes. They’re more like what you’d find on a fantastic restaurant menu. Everything looks and sounds delicious.
Here are a few recipes from the book that I’m challenging myself to make:
- sourdough bread
- pain perdu
- green tomato farro salad
- smoked salmon and chive croissant sandwiches
- meatloaf with fresh mint and peas
- walnut financiers
- oat milk rice pudding
- barley beer bread
Ingredients needed:
- smoked almonds
- bread crumbs
- Parmigiano Reggiano
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- cauliflower
- extra virgin olive oil
- lemon
- garlic
- smoked paprika
How to make Smoky Cauliflower Gratin:
- Steam the cauliflower until crisp- tender.
- Pulse the almonds in a food processor until they turn into fine crumbs/powder. Add bread crumbs, cheese, salt and pepper.
- Transfer the cauliflower to a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic and smoked paprika.
- Sprinkle with the bread crumb mixture and drizzle a little more olive oil on top.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, just until the bread crumbs are toasted and the cauliflower is heated through.
Spoon out and serve! The cauliflower is tender and delicious, but that smoky almond bread crumb topping is what makes this recipe so special.
How to make your own bread crumbs:
If you are making bread crumbs from scratch, dry the bread out first. Tear it into pieces, place it on a baking sheet and bake for 5 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees F. Then process the dry bread to make crumbs. Sourdough bread is recommended for this recipe.
Smoky cauliflower gratin is a good side dish to serve at a holiday dinner like Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter. It’s also good to serve at a gourmet dinner party. And my family loves it as an addition to Sunday night dinner with brisket or roasted chicken or pot roast too. Enjoy!
If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you’ll find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.
Smoky Cauliflower Gratin
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted smoked almonds
- ½ cup coarsely ground bread crumbs (see notes below)
- ½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large head cauliflower, cored and cut into small florets
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 medium lemon, juiced
- 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a food processor, pulse the almonds until they are ground to a fine powder. add the bread crumbs and cheese and pulse just to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
- Steam the cauliflower in a steamer basket in a large pot until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Transfer the cauliflower to an 8-inch square baking dish. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and paprika; toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the bread crumb mixture and drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Bake until the bread crumbs are toasted, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm.
Notes
- Breadcrumbs: you can use any breadcrumbs for this recipe. If you are making them from scratch, dry the bread out first. Tear it into pieces, place it on a baking sheet and bake for 5 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees F. Then process the dry bread to make crumbs. Sourdough is recommended for this recipe.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
