Broccoli gratin. Crisp-tender broccoli topped with creamy, cheesy white sauce and plenty of fresh breadcrumbs. Perfect green side dish for your next dinner!
Gratin – the highly customisable classic French dish with a browned top. It’s the easiest way to make a simple side dish with seasonal vegetables or your favorite Ingredients. The basic idea is to create a beautiful brown crust with a little help from cheese or bread crumbs.
For today’s recipe, I’m going to make broccoli gratin loaded with the goodness of beautifully green broccoli. To make this gratin, you’ll need to separate the florets of the broccoli and steam them until tender. This will take about 5 minutes. Don’t forget to sprinkle the broccoli florets with a little salt so they’ll taste amazing.
While the broccoli florets are turning crisp-tender in the steamer, start with making beautifully creamy white sauce. Melt a little butter over medium heat and sauté some chopped garlic. To add to the deliciousness factor, I decided to add a couple of tablespoons of dijon mustard. Give this quick stir fry before adding in cream and a touch of nutmeg. You’ll need to cook this sauce for about 3-4 minutes, cool and stir in shredded parmesan cheese.
The next step in making this broccoli gratin is browning some fresh breadcrumbs until crisp and golden. You can use store bought breadcrumbs in this recipe, but I love the flavor of fresh breadcrumbs tossed in a little butter.
Now, transfer all the elements to a buttered baking dish. First, steamed broccoli. Pour the white sauce over the broccoli florets. Sprinkle with parmesan and breadcrumbs, place in preheated oven, and cook for 20-30 minutes. When the gratin is ready, cheese will be melted with beautiful brown crust of breadcrumbs.
Perfectly creamy and cheesy broccoli gratin makes for an amazing side dish!
Broccoli Gratin
Perfectly creamy and cheesy broccoli gratin makes for an amazing side dish!
Ingredients
Cook broccoli:
- 3 large heads of broccoli, cut into florets
- Salt to taste
White sauce:
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 1 and 1/2 cups fresh heavy (thickened) cream
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Buttered breadcrumbs:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 4 bread slices
Other ingredients:
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180C or 350F. Grease a 13” x 9” baking dish and set aside.
Cook broccoli:
Place broccoli florets in a steamer. Sprinkle with salt. Steam for about 5 minutes or until crisp-tender.
White sauce:
Heat butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic cloves. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for about a minute. Add dijon mustard, and sauté, stirring, for about a minute. Add cream and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat. Leave to cool. Stir in parmesan cheese.
Buttered breadcrumbs:
Remove the brown ends from the bread slices. Place in a food processor, and process to crumbs. Set aside.Heat butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add breadcrumbs. Stir fry for about 10 minutes or until browned. Set aside.
Make broccoli gratin:
Place cooked broccoli in the prepared baking dish. Pour white sauce on top. Sprinkle with buttered breadcrumbs. Transfer to oven. Bake for about 20-30 minutes.
Notes
- Not a fan of broccoli? Substitute it with cauliflower. You can also use a combo of white cauliflower and green broccoli.
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 319Total Fat 16gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 39mgSodium 1067mgCarbohydrates 34gFiber 8gSugar 5gProtein 14g
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