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Broccoli Cauliflower Gratin with Pasta

When I was little, my mum used to make a gratin with spätzle, cauliflower and broccoli. Even though she used a ready-mix to make the sauce for the gratin, I couldn’t get enough of it. But which kid can actually get enough of spätzle?

Unfortunately I couldn’t make any spätzle because I didn’t have eggs left, but I used pasta instead and it tasted (almost) just as good! To replace the ready-mix sauce I made a thin sauce béchamel and flavoured it with an onion and a little stock powder.

One reason why I love this gratin so much is that it’s a delicious way of eating broccoli, which is an incredibly healthy vegetable. Its health benefits beat the ones of most other vegetables. I generally think that it’s quite important to find an alternative to the 2-3 sad florets of cooked broccoli, which we typically serve with our roast dinner. Actually I think that the broccoli feels mistreated and sad, having to share the plate with a big mean piece of meat!

Ingredients

• 500g broccoli, cleaned and cut in florets
• 500g cauliflower, cleaned and cut in florets
• 2 little carrots, cleaned and cut in slices
• 250g pasta, cooked
• 300ml of this sauce béchamel (infused with an onion)
• 2 tsp stock powder
• salt & pepper
• 125g of grated cheese, I used gruyère

Preparation

Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan and add salt. Turn the heat to medium. First add the cauliflower and let it cook for about 2 minutes, then add the carrots and let both cook for 2 more minutes. Then add the Broccoli and let everything cook for 4 more minutes.

Drain the vegetables from the water and put them in a gratin dish. Add the cooked pasta.

If the sauce béchamel isn’t seasoned yet, season it and add the stock powder. Keep whisking as you don’t want the sauce to develop a skin.

Heat your oven to approximately 180°C. Pour the sauce over the vegetables and the pasta and mix everything well. Sprinkle with cheese and bake in the oven until golden brown.

Serves 4