Gratin (also “gratin”) is a culinary technique for creating a crust. From French “gratin” is translated - “crust”, and the process itself is called “gratinization”: the dish is sprinkled with a product to decorate and give a taste to it. The role of gratin is usually played by cheese, breadcrumbs or sauce. Cauliflower gratin is a light and tasty meal for dinner. We offer several options.

Just Cauliflower Gratin

To understand if you like the combination of cabbage and creamy sauce, try to cook the easiest option first. This recipe can be described in just three words - simple, tasty, inexpensive.

You will need:

  • ½ head of cauliflower (300-400 g);
  • 200 ml of milk;
  • 1 egg
  • 200 g of cheese;
  • some salt, pepper, oil for frying.

We act as follows:

  1. We divide the cabbage into bunches, pour boiling water, stand for 5 minutes, then drain the water. Thanks to soaking, dirt will come out of the folds, and the taste of the pulp will become softer.
  2. Three cheese on a coarse grater, add the egg, milk, salt, pepper. Mix until smooth.
  3. We heat the pan with oil, spread the cabbage bundles, pour in the milk mixture, close the lid and simmer for 5 minutes.
  4. At this time, chop the second half of the cheese. After 5 minutes, turn off the fire, sprinkle the dish with cheese, close the lid, keep it on the fire for another minute (so that the cheese melts), turn it off. Serve immediately.

How to cook with chicken

In this recipe we will use Bechamel sauce for gratinating: its creamy taste successfully complements chicken meat.

For cauliflower gratin with chicken you will need:

  • small forks of cabbage;
  • 500 g of chicken;
  • 200 g cream. cheese;
  • 10 g nutmeg (ground);
  • 150 g of flour;
  • 1 liter of milk;
  • salt, white pepper - 5 g each

Getting started:

  1. Lightly fry the chicken fillet, at the same time cook cabbage twigs. In time, everything will take 5 minutes.
  2. Cook the sauce in a saucepan. We put it on the fire, put the oil. When it melts, add flour, milk. Constantly stirring, keep the sauce on fire until it thickens.
  3. In the baking dish we spread the chicken fillet, cabbage, pour the sauce. We put on the average level of the oven for 30 minutes at 180 degrees.

With broccoli

Broccoli is often confused with cauliflower. These are different plants, but related, and therefore combine well.

Cauliflower and broccoli gratin is an almost full-fledged light dinner for fans of proper nutrition:

  • 200 g of broccoli and cauliflower;
  • 2 eggs;
  • 200 ml cream of 20-30% fat content;
  • 200 g cream. cheese;
  • 50 g of dill;
  • salt pepper.

Read also: classic potato gratin

Cooking:

  1. Broccoli divided into inflorescences, cauliflower - on the branches.
  2. Beat eggs, grate coarsely. Combine eggs, cheese, cream, salt and pepper the resulting mass. Immediately do not add all the cheese, leave a handful for the final powder.
  3. Put the oven to heat up, proceed to the formation of the dish: first put the inflorescences and twigs in the baking dish, then pour the previously prepared cream mixture, finally sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
  4. Bake at 200 degrees. until crusting, approximately 20 minutes.
  5. Garnish with chopped dill or whole branches.

On a note. To prevent the dish from getting dry, cover it with foil, and only 5 minutes before the end, remove it to form a crust.

Dietary Cauliflower Gratin

Cabbage - the queen of the diet: does not contain excess calories, but gives saturation.

Gratin diet consists of:

  • 1 forks of cabbage;
  • 200 g bread crumbs;
  • 3 eggs;
  • 1 table. l grows up. oils;
  • 5 g of salt.

The dish is cooked quickly in a pan:

  1. Disassemble the cabbage into inflorescences and pour over boiling water: this is both a disinfection and softening of the leaves to make the dish tender.
  2. Beat eggs, salt.
  3. Heat the pan, pour oil. Proceed to frying: we take inflorescences one at a time, each dip in eggs first, then in breadcrumbs and put in a pan. Fry for 35 minutes until golden.

Cooking in a slow cooker

With this approach, you do not have to add extra cooking oil.

Prepare the necessary products in the following quantities:

  • ½ stack. cream;
  • 500 g color. cabbage;
  • 1 stack milk;
  • 200 g of cheese;
  • 2 garlic cloves;
  • salt, spices.

What do we have to do:

  1. Cabbage, as before, is divided into twigs, doused with boiling water, put in a multicooker bowl.
  2. Grate cheese, pass garlic through a press.
  3. Mix cheese, garlic, dairy components, do not forget about salt and any spices - ground nutmeg, different types of pepper, ginger are suitable.
  4. Pour the cabbage with the resulting sauce. Run the “Baking” mode for a third of an hour.

With ham and potatoes

Hearty unsweetened pastries “au gratin” can act as an independent dish, or as a side dish.

From the products you need to take:

  • 7 medium potatoes;
  • 200 g of ham;
  • ½ fork of cauliflower;
  • 1 garlic clove;
  • 200 ml of heavy cream;
  • 200 g solid cheese;
  • egg;
  • salt and spices;
  • creamy oil for preparing the mold.

Cooking Instructions:

  1. Peeled potatoes cut into slices as thin as possible. Chop the garlic into thin slices. Cut the ham into thin strips. Disassemble cabbage into separate branches.
  2. Mix cream, half grated cheese, salt and spices. Salt should be enough to salt both vegetables and sauce.
  3. Lubricate the mold with a piece of oil. Lay the layers in the following order: first part of the potato, then part of the ham, several cabbage twigs, then pour over part of the mixture. repeat layers 3-4 times until the products are completely finished. Last should be the sauce.
  4. Bake in the oven for half an hour at 180 degrees. In the meantime, beat the egg, after half an hour of baking, pour the dish in it and cook for another quarter of an hour.

On a note.Do not pour the beaten egg immediately and bake: the egg mass will burn for such a long time and a beautiful crust will not work.

Shrimp gratin with shrimp

Gourmet gratin with seafood is prepared from the following components:

  • ½ fork of cauliflower;
  • 200 g medium-sized shrimp;
  • 2 onions;
  • 500 ml of milk;
  • 150 g plums. cheese;
  • a pair of eggs;
  • salt, pepper, other spices to taste.

How to cook:

  1. We sort cabbage in classics. Cook in salted water for 5 minutes, then drain the water.
  2. We clean shrimps, if they are whole, but it is more convenient to immediately take peeled ones.
  3. We clean the onion and cut into thin half rings, fry in ghee with salt and pepper.
  4. Put the onion in the prepared form in the first layer. Next we put cabbage inflorescences mixed with shrimp carcasses.
  5. In a separate container, we prepare the pouring of eggs, milk and grated cheese - first, thoroughly beat the liquid components, then mix with cheese chips. Season with salt and season.
  6. To cover the vegetables in the form with a ready filling, you can wipe a little cheese on top.
  7. Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees. until crusty.

Calorie content of the presented recipes

Most often, gratin is made from cheese and cream, which are not related to dietary products.

If you adhere to a strict diet, you should pay attention to such data:

  • cream contains from 120 to 335 kcal, depending on the percentage of fat content;
  • the cheese contains approximately 360 kcal per 100 g of product.

If you want to treat yourself to this dish, you will either have to limit the amount of servings you use, or reduce calories, replacing some foods with less fatty ones:

  • replace cheese with a similar dietary, low fat;
  • use cream with the smallest possible fat content, or use milk at all;
  • cheese can also be replaced with a mixture of beaten eggs with a pinch of soda;
  • to get a crust, you can use sour cream and breadcrumbs.

The general principle of cooking is the same: prepare vegetables, mix the sauce, fold the vegetables into a mold and pour the sauce, cook until browned.