Cauliflower Gratin

And now for something completely unhealthy. Well, not completely, but it is not completely healthy either. Last night, I prepared grilled tilapia. I chose to use a grill pan instead of firing up the grill just for a couple of pieces of fish. The fish turned out pretty well, but that is for another post...

Now I would like to discuss the oft overlooked aspect of any meal, the side dish. I recently purchased cauliflower at the store for a raw casual snack, Rachael had the great idea of preparing a gratin with it when we were brainstorming what to serve with the tilapia.

So I went to the internet to search for a solid recipe. On Food Network.com, Ina Garten's recipe was very well rated (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cauliflower-gratin-recipe/index.html). Keeping with the inadvertent theme of the week, I decided to prepare the dish using her recipe.

It turned out quite well. I will spare the reader with an ingredient list or the preparation of the dish because it is all on the website. What I will write about instead is the base of the sauce - the roux. It is the building block of many French sauces. A Roux includes butter (or some other fat such as bacon) and flour.

You start the roux by melting butter and followed by adding flour. Mix the flour and butter together and cook until the raw flour taste is no longer present.

You can make a Gratin sauce with the roux by adding milk or creme and cheese (which is what Ina's recipe calls for). You can also make an Alfredo-style white sauce by adding creme, black peppercorns, garlic, parsley and Parmesan. It is pretty easy to do and delicious. Enjoy!