​With the holidays​ just​ around the corner, you might be looking for a new and unusual crowd-pleasing side dish to wow your guests. This is one of my favorite vegetable dishes, introduced to me by Tessa Kiros in her wonderful cookbook: Twelve: A Tuscan Cook Book. She introduces the readers to the twelve months of Tuscan cooking and seasonal ingredients. When I’ve served at our mission house in Tuscany, I would cook through this book and this recipe became one of our house favorites. As Tessa says, “pastry-less baked vegetable pies are very common and are made with various vegetables depending on the season, such as green beans, artichokes and spinach.” You can also use broccoli in place of cauliflower.

We just served this last night for the opening to our Gregorian Chant Retreat and received great compliments. This would make a lovely addition to your Thanksgiving table. If you want to make it gluten free, just substitute gluten free flour for all purpose flour in the the béchamel sauce.

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Baked Cauliflower Pie (sformato di cavolfiore)

SERVINGS 6servings CHANGE SERVING SIZE servings

COOK TIME 30-40mins

PREP TIME 20mins

READY IN 55mins

Ingredients

• 1 medium cauliflower (about 1lb. 9oz.)
• 2 cups béchamel sauce
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated
• dash of nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp fine breadcrumbs
• Béchamel Sauce
• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
• 1/4 cup shallot(s) minced (optional)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk warm
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 3​50 degrees/ Wash the cauliflower and trim away the hard stem. Put it into a pot of boiling salted water and boil for about 10 min. or until it has softened.
2. Meanwhile, make the béchamel​ ​​sauce:
   1) Melt butter in a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat until foaming. Add shallots (if using) and sauté 2 minutes. Do not let brown.
   
   2) Reduce heat to low, add flour, and whisk until smooth and raw taste is cooked off, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Add bay leaf and cook until just thickened, stirring often, about 10 minutes.
   
   3) Stir in nutmeg and salt. Season with ground white pepper. Cool sauce slightly. Discard bay leaf before using.
3. Drain the cauliflower and​ chop it up finely or roughly puree it. Put into a bowl and mix in the eggs, 2 cups béchamel​,​ parmesan cheese, a grating of fresh nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste, adjusting if necessary. Mix well with wooden spoon.
4. Butter an oven dish or loaf pan and sprinkle with half of the breadcrumbs to line the pan, shaking away the excess (use gluten free breadcrumbs if making gluten free). Pour in the mixture and sprinkle the surface with the remaining breadcrumbs.
5. Bake for 30-40 min. in the hot oven, until the top is golden and slightly crusty. Serve warm.

Baked Cauliflower Pie