We’ve found this really good dish which pairs the early spring feeling of leeks and shallots and cauliflower with the late winter feeling of a rich, satisfying meal. Cauliflower gratin with Gruyere and leeks. I came across it once when trying to figure out what to do with some leftover leeks. Looking up leeks in America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook yielded this recipe, which luckily also used up the rest of the fresh thyme and the leftover heavy cream I had in the fridge from some other recipes. Few things are as exciting in this house as scoring a new recipe that mops up multiple leftover ingredients from other dishes. Good times, I tell you.
It’s very easy to make. Tear up four slices of a really high quality white bread (we don’t often buy this, but we used the rest to make the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches ever, so treat yourself to a really good loaf). Pour two melted tablespoons of unsalted butter and a little salt (1/4t) and pepper (1/8t) over the bread and pulse six times in a food processor to make a coarse crumb. Turn the oven on to 450 with a rack in the middle. Set four quarts of water with a generous pinch of salt to boil on the stove.
Thinly slice the leeks – two nice sized ones will do it once you pulled off the outer layer. Mince one shallot and cut a two pound head of cauliflower into one inch florets. Toss the cauliflower into the boiling water for four minutes, rinse with cool water and drain completely.
Melt two more tablespoons of butter in a big skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot and the leeks and cook for about two minutes, then the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds or so. Stir in one tablespoon of flour, whisk in 1.5 cups of heavy cream and bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, stir in 1/2 cup shredded Gruyere, 1 teaspoon of minced fresh thyme, a pinch each of nutmeg, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and stir in the cooked cauliflower. Pour it all into a 7×11 casserole dish, sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and another 1/4 cup of Gruyere. Bake until golden brown and the sauce is bubbling. Serve hot and make sure each scoop has the bread crumb topping. Reheats magnificently for lunch the next day. Enjoy in this season between the cool and the hot.
We loved this recipe too, both times that I’ve made it, and highly recommend it!!! I love the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook 🙂
I love that recipe book. I miss watching the show – we just never get around to it anymore. When we were first married, we had this old TV that got about 2.5 channels, but one was PBS. ATK used to come on around lunchtime on Saturdays, so we’d take a break from our house projects and watch it over lunch. I really enjoy the science and testing behind each dish.
Do you get Cooks Illustrated magazine? We only subscribe to two magazines and that’s one of them. I love the fact that it has no ads, and I love the seasonal recipes as they arrive on my doorstep. The only downfall is trying to track down a favorite recipe in all those magazines! I’ve got several marked that I come back to time and again.
This post is an oldie – sorry about the bad formatting! But thanks for the reminder on this recipe.
Yay, such an awesome cookbook! If you ever do have time to watch the show and catch up on old episodes, they have a ton at my library – maybe yours does too? What a fun memory with you and your husband!
I don’t get CI magazine but have maybe 7 old issues, but I subscribe to http://www.cooksillustrated.com online and love it! I love the no-ads and seasonal recipes too! I feel like I’m constantly learning because of them (and ATK and Cook’s Country). I seriously have no natural cooking talent, but no one believes me because their recipes are so good. hehe.
As far as tracking down a favorite recipe among all those magazines, I have a few ideas… one is that you can go to http://www.cooksillustrated.com without a membership and (after you click through their offers for a free newsletter) you’ll see a tiny magnifying glass at the top left of the page. Click on that and a larger search bar will appear. If you type in the recipe you want, you’ll get all the results from all three of their companies (you can uncheck the others if you just want to search CI, but it’s no big deal). Then once you find the recipe you want to make, click on it and you’ll see “Published September 1, 1995.” or something like that, right at the top of the page. So you’ll know exactly which CI magazine your recipe is in.
More complicated, have you heard of http://www.eatyourbooks.com? You tell the website which cookbooks or cooking magazines you own, and it creates your own virtual website. Then you can search by magazine, by word (type in “carrot” and every single recipe you have with carrots in it will appear), by recipe type (“type in carrot cake, and every recipe for carrot cake will appear), or by ingredient (you can also include and exclude ingredients, though it takes a few more steps). By the way, whenever a list of potential recipes pops up (and again, these are just recipes from your own cookbooks and magazines that you have at home), it shows the title of the recipe plus the list of ingredients in it, so it’s really handy to scan down the list if you want to make something that you already have all of the ingredients for. You can rate recipes to easily see later if you’d make it again (or not). It’s free for up to 5 books or magazines. It’s really great for people who have a ton of cookbooks and cooking magazines; I just use the free part because I don’t have a ton of cookbooks. Sometimes I also like to look through the “library” part which includes a bazillion books and magazines, if I’m looking for a recipe that’s in a cookbook that I don’t own, and that gives me some ideas.
Haha, I guess I gave you more info that you may have wanted, but I had to share 🙂 So glad to have met a fellow cooking enthusiast!!!
Sorry I missed this comment – it went into pending status, probably due to length! Thanks for all the great information. I’ll have to check it out and let you know what I think. And thanks for reading. (and commenting!) 🙂
No worries, yes it was probably the longest comment I’ve ever written – hehe. You’re welcome, and thanks for blogging!