Healthy Vegan - Cauliflower Cheese Gratin with Black Olives

I know it don't look much, but this Cauliflower Cheese Gratin with Black Olives made for an interesting change.  
The onions were soft and caramelised, the cauliflower was blistered gold here and there as if it were sprayed lustre gold and then studded with black pearls of sliced black olives.  It was surprisingly quite good and this is a compliment from someone who still snugs her nose at cauliflower dishes.   I must say though, this is not a creamy gratin.  The cream clings onto the cauliflower florets or  sinks into the gaps.
I served the gratin with some crusty crisp bread, but you could happily have it with sauteed new potatoes if you wish. 


 Cauliflower Cheese Gratin with Black Olives
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large cauliflower, cored and broken into bite size florets
1 onion, sliced

 50grams butter
50grams flour
350ml milk
100grams cheddar grated plus 20grams extra for breadcrumbs
30g panko crumbs
1 teaspoon parsley, minced
2 tablespoons black olives, sliced
Method
Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200oc.
In a 12 inch gratin dish, coat the sliced onions and cauliflower with the oil.
Place in oven and cook for 20 - 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

 To make the sauce, melt the butter in a pan then stir in the flour.  
Stir on low heat, then stir in the milk, bring to the boil, stirring all the time to thicken. 
Stir in the cheese, parsley and black olives.
Season to taste.
Set aside
Then pour over the sauce over the caramelised onions and cauliflower.
Scatter over the panko crumbs.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden
Serve straight away.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Healthy Vegan - Dill Horseradish Mashed Potatoes

Image
l have a confession to make.  I don't like mashed potatoes.  It is baby food designed for grown ups. I avoid making it, but if I have to t he only way I can eat it is if it is disguised in panko crusted  croquettes or dolloped over a good Vegetarian Shepherdess Pie,   but my dearest loves mashed potatoes, so it is for him I make them now and again.   Here the mashed potatoes are enhanced with herby dill and a good smack of horseradish powder or sauce. Once you've made it though, there is the question of presentation.    The mash was ridiculously smooth, so smooth that it almost melted in the mouth like snow - except of course it was warm.   Dill Horseradish Mashed Potatoes Serves 4 - 6 as an accompaniment Ingredients 500ml water 750grams potatoes, peeled and chopped into small bite size pieces 1 tablespoon horseradish powder or sauce 2 tablespoons dill, roughly chopped 30grams butter or vegan margarine 100ml - 150ml milk or ve...
Read more

Healthy Vegan - 13 Black Food Recipes for Halloween

Image
I have black quinoa, black rice and black garlic in my kitchen to experiment with over the weekend, but with Halloween fast becoming UKs most commercialised event after Christmas , I thought I would shamelessly  jump on the bandwagon and share some vegetarian and vegan black coloured food recipes you could easily make at home for the Halloween party (or maybe not). This is  Sweet Black Butter  (vegan)  made with black sesame seeds. Halloween Fruit Leather Bats   (vegan) Black Olive Spider Gratin   (vegan) Halloween Black Rice Risotto  (vegetarian) here it is topped with feta cheese, but you could easily make it suitable for vegans by substituting it with smoked tofu - cut into the shapes of ghosts - Boo! Halloween Black Olive Tapenade  (vegan) something different to spread onto those  crackers or pumpkin shaped bread rolls.  Not technically Halloween food, but this  Malaysian Black Pepper Tofu  ( vegan) ce...
Read more

Healthy Vegan - Three Pea Tagine with Cherry Tomatoes

Image
These days, I don't have much energy to cook from scratch when I get in from work unless its something like pasta such as  Spaghetti dish, but strangely enough I did actually make this Three Pea Tagine after work in the late evening.   I was rather surprised that I had both the energy and the inclination.  This was one of those days, when i decided to myself that I was not going to plonk myself in front of either the computer or sofa and instead use those couple of hours a little more usefully, then laze.  Other than making couscous, grub was made and it was plenty to last us two days if not more.   Its actually a relatively easy recipe, after sauteing the onions, garlic and spices, you could happily leave it for 40 - 45 minutes for the yellow split peas to cook in the vegetable stock, then stir in the remaining ingredients such as chickpeas, raisins, green peas, cherry tomatoes which happen to be home gown for 10 minutes and its pretty much done.  ...
Read more