Sicilian Cauliflower and Black Olive Gratin Recipe (2024)

This is one of my favorite recipes. But . . .
– Yes, a five-minute blanching is too long. I do maybe two minutes.
– I use this much onion and garlic for half as much cauliflower. And I'm more generous with the parsley & parmesan.
– It's worth trying to find oil-cured olives. They're on many supermarket olive bars. I wouldn't chop them; I like the salty little blasts.
– It's easier to mix everything together in a bowl and then turn the mixture into the baking dish.

First rate ... but gains from techniques to up the flavor. Increase the number of olives, the amount of garlic, the onion and parsley. Add smoked paprika on the top. And, why not, consider some anchovy.

Roast cauliflower instead of blanching for more flavor.
Add an anchovy fillet or 2 to olive oil before sautéing onions.

Next time I will chop the olives rather than merely halve them; each olive bite was overly salty and each bit without an olive half was bland.

Good, but needed a kick - both in color and flavor. If I make it again, might add diced red peppers.

Tasty. Next time I will chop the olives, as mentioned by others, and I will use two cheeses--Gruyere to mix into the other ingredients and Parmesan for the topping.

Chopped the oil-cured olives (no other salt needed for the dish !). Had half a red pepper in fridge so chopped it, sautéed with onions. Very nice addition. Thanks for the suggestion!

I replaced the onion with thinly sliced shallots (I had shallots that needed to be used up), used brine-cured kalamata olives, and tossed all the raw ingredients minus the cheese together in a large bowl and roasted everything at 425 for about 30 minutes. Then I tossed it all with some ziti, sprinkled the cheese on top, and baked until browned.

My wife raved about this! I did a mixture of Asiago, Parmesan, and Colby-Jack. The key is to roast the cauliflower first instead of boiling it. I cut up 1 head. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 30 minutes. Then follow with the sauteed onions and garlic. I then layered it in a casserole dish (layer of cauliflower, onion mixture, and all 3 cheeses). Do a second layer in the same manner. I added panko bread crumbs on top. Baked for about 20-30 minutes at about 375. Delicious!!

For the work involved, I just didn't think it was that great. I followed others suggestions: cut back the time to boil to 2 min., amped up the garlic, added Spanish paprika, a dab of anchovy paste, more parsley and cheese, and some breadcrumbs on the top. The cauliflower was still a bit too soft for my taste (even though I duly plunged them into an ice bath.) The flavor (or whatever was missing) just wasn't there. Too much work for a so-so dish. I won't make this again.

The cauliflower was soft and a little boring. (Note--you really do want to drain it well, as it will make dish watering otherwise.) Next time, I am going to roast the cauliflower, then mix in the rest of the ingredients and put under the broiler to melt the cheese on top.

Really enjoying this. I used a generous amount of feta, 1/4 cup grated parmesan, and 1/4 cup brewers yeast. So much flavor.

Microwaved the cauliflower florets in a covered bowl for 3 minutes and ran cold water over. It remained crisp in the final dish. Next time will coarsely chop so it becomes more of a gratin. Added 2 anchovies and some red pepper flakes to onions and garlic for more flavor.

– Yes, a five-minute blanching is too long. I do maybe two minutes.– I use this much onion and garlic for half as much cauliflower. And I'm more generous with the parsley & parmesan.– It's worth trying to find oil-cured olives. They're on many supermarket olive bars. I wouldn't chop them; I like the salty little blasts.– It's easier to mix everything together in a bowl and then turn the mixture into the baking dish.

Tasted greatRoasted cauliflower in 425 for 20ish minutes Added anchovies to onions Added sausage Mixed Comte in Topped with Parmesan breadcrumbs

Delicious! And relatively easy too!I agree with the comments which others have made - increase the amount of garlic, and reduce the time for blanching the cauliflower.This recipe scales up well. I was hosting 25 people for a Christmas Day open house and prepared a double batch of this recipe. With just a few extra minutes of chopping, it made a large side dish. It was a tremendous hit. Several of my friends requested the recipe!

Good. Took the advice in the notes. More olives, onions, garlic, Parmesan. Also added some sun-dried tomatoes. Thinking maybe some more cheesiness inside, more melty. Maybe a bit of cream and some cheese of some kind.

I'm thinking that maybe some cinnamon, anchovies and raisins would make this even better. Sicily, particularly the south is next to Africa.

Was tasty, roasted the cauliflower, tried adding two anchovy fillets but maybe next time none or one. Used both parmigiana and Romano and mixed with panko bread crumbs for a bit of crispy. And of course used a lot more than recipe called for.

I would add this needed a little kick. Pretty bland otherwise. Missing something....brine, cream, more cheese? Dont know if i will make again

Use two small heads cauliflower

I've made this several times. It's a great side dish, flavorful but light. I normally microwave the cauliflower on high (1000 W) for 3 to 5 minutes to bypass the blanching. Sometimes I smash an anchovy and add to the garlic step. Often I mix the half cheese with breadcrumbs (Panko or regular) and a dash of olive oil to top the dish.

It’s not necessary to do anything to the cauliflower before baking. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes, and the florets are cooked through with a bit of crunch.

followed exactly and this was completely bland. I wanted to love considering all the high ratings.

Really pretty bland. Filling but bland. Found it lacking any significant flavor profile.

I made this while on vacation in Sicily, where I was able to buy green cauliflower. I added red pepper flakes and chopped anchovies. The downside was I only had a microwave in the vacation rental so texture was rather gummy. I would definitely roast the cauliflower. Still, it was an incredibly cheap dish here… and a relief to have a big plate of veg for dinner.

Good recipe combo. I added a few baby potatoes and some smoked paprika.

This was good... But not great. Adding in chopped anchovies definitely helped but I don't think the end product is worth the effort and dishes.

Love this recipe-one of the best tasting I've tried for cauliflower.

I followed some of the suggested notes to prepare the cauliflower, which was to roast it versus boiling. And added smoked paprika. Added anchovie paste when sautéing the onion. Lastly, helpful note here, to achieve 2.5 pounds of cauliflower, buy 2 heads. At least here in the NW, the cauliflower looked pretty skimpy. After trimming away all the leaves, there wasn't much left. Other than that, followed recipe to a tee. Will cook again!