Roasted Cauliflower with Parmesan and Béchamel Sauce

This is my mom super easy Roasted Cauliflower with Parmesan and Béchamel Sauce to convince you that even cauliflower can be tasty! Well, she convinced me when I was a child, so I use the same trick with my kid now. He actually likes cauliflower in all its forms, so it’s not really a trick in this case, but you should try it with your kids and I am sure they will love it too.

What makes this roasted cauliflower so creamy and so delicious is the béchamel sauce and the parmesan. Because, let’s be real, anything that is floating in béchamel and covered with Parmesan is delicious. I mean, you cannot go wrong with that, right?

On the contrary, If you really detest cauliflower, and I do understand why, you can easily decide to use other vegetables, in my opinion the best alternatives for this recipes are: broccoli or fennels.

Roasted Cauliflower with Parmesan and Béchamel Ingredients

• Cauliflower: it needs to be boiled before baking it but make sure to dry it well, so you won’t end up with cauliflower that goes watery.
• Béchamel sauce: will make the cauliflower au gratin extra creamy
• Parmesan and Nutmeg: my favorite combination. The nutmeg is not a must, but make sure to add plenty of Parmesan on top.

Roasted Cauliflower with Parmesan and Béchamel Sauce

Recipe by GiadaCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

My mom’s super easy Roasted Cauliflower with Parmesan and Béchamel Sauce to convince you that even cauliflower can be tasty!

Ingredients

• 1 Cauliflower

• 1L Béchamel Sauce

• 100g Parmesan

• Nutmeg and salt

Directions

• Wash and cut the cauliflower florets. cook them in a large pot with boiling salted water or steam them, until slightly soft. This will take around 8 minutes.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
• Drain the cauliflower and let it dry completely. 
• Preheated the oven to 200°.
• Prepare the béchamel sauce.
• Pour some of the béchamel sauce at the bottom of a baking dish, place the cauliflower florets and cover it with all the rest of the béchamel and the parmesan.
• Roast the cauliflower with Parmesan and béchamel sauce for 20 minutes, or until you see it bubbly and golden on top.

If you’d like you can boil the cauliflower the day before and make it roasted with parmesan and béchamel the day after. You can also prepare the whole dish the day before, and warm it up before serving it. In this case, I recommend you to keep the béchamel quite liquid, so it won’t get too thick after you warm it up again.

Can you freeze cauliflower au gratin? Yes, you can freeze the Cauliflower au gratin for a couple of months. You should add 1/2 glass of milk before warming it up in the oven.

More vegetarian ideas you may like

• The Best Roasted Potatoes (with a twist)
• Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
• Spinach Gnocchi Recipe