Quarantummy: Cauliflower and spinach gratin

I bought three kilos of cauliflower.

Hear me out. I’ve been trying to eat more vegetables, and looking for vegetable recipes that my family would like. I saw someone selling cauliflower in the village marketplace, and it was a really good deal, but you had to buy a minimum of 3 kilograms. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and I figured, well half of that will be leaves and stems and unusable parts anyway, so it’s okay.

It was not quite what I imagined. The cauliflower turned out to be partially trimmed, so there were few leaves and stems. I had to look online to see how to store them in the freezer, and I ended up chopping them up and boiling them in a salt bath before blanching and freezing. The bonus: we had vegetables for over a week!

The problem: How to cook them?

The easiest for me is just popping them in the oven with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, and oven-roasting until they’re nice and brown. I do this for tomatoes, cabbage and cauliflower, and it’s a great way to serve vegetables alongside pretty much any other dish. When I cook cauliflower or cabbage this way, sometimes I don’t feel the need to have rice because it’s so filling!

But of course I wanted to do something different. So I found a recipe for cauliflower and spinach gratin.

Ingredients

• Cauliflower – Good thing I had so much!
• Spinach – Plucked off the stems, washed
• Carrots – I always have carrots in my freezer. As soon as I buy them, I wash, peel and chop them into different shapes and sizes. Then I put them in small containers and keep them in the freezer, ready for use any time. For this one, I used the matchstick-shaped carrots.
• Onion – Peeled and chopped
• Garlic – Peeled and chopped
• Breadcrumbs – Panko is recommended so you can get that nice crust on top.
• Parsley – I just had dried parsley, and it worked nicely. Use whatever spices you prefer!
• Milk
• Butter

Procedure

1. Heat the butter in a large pan. Add the onion and garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Add the frozen cauliflower florets and chopped carrot and cover with a lid. Cook on medium heat for 15 minutes.
2. Add the spinach and cover again with a lid. Cook for 5 more minutes or until wilted.
3. Remove from heat. Add beaten eggs, milk, seasonings, and breadcrumbs. Mix well.
4. Pour the mixture into your baking dish. Spread evenly.
5. If you have cheese, sprinkle it on top. Then bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until you get that nice, toasty crust on top.

Let me tell you, it was delicious. And so filling!