Weekly Recipe – Truffled Cauliflower Gratin

Originally Posted On Allrecipes.com

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Recipe by: Chef John

“In this otherwise humble gratin, we’re going to use another, much more delicious delivery system of truffles: truffle pecorino cheese. For less than $10 worth of cheese, I think you can get a nicer, truer truffle flavor. By the way, if you know they actually make this cheese with synthetic truffle oil, please keep it to yourself, and don’t spoil it for me.”

Ingredients

7 tablespoons butter, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
5 ounces truffled pecorino cheese, grated, or more to taste
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 large head cauliflower, cored and separated into florets
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, or more to taste
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives, or to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Butter a 9×13-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter.
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk flour into butter; cook and stir until raw flour taste cooks off, 2 to 3 minutes.
Gradually whisk milk into flour mixture. Increase heat to medium-high; cook and stir until mixture thickens and comes to a simmer, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir truffled pecorino cheese, salt, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg into milk mixture until cheese sauce is thick.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add cauliflower and cook until slightly tender, about 6 minutes. Drain and transfer cauliflower to prepared baking dish. Spread cheese sauce evenly over cauliflower. Dust with bread crumbs, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese; drizzle olive oil over the top and sprinkle with a pinch of cayenne pepper.
Bake in the preheated oven until browned and bubbling, about 30 minutes. Garnish with chopped fresh chives.