A cheesy cauliflower & mince gratin with dill; Kalyn's WHB turns Two



Yes, the Weekend Herb Blogging that Kalyn started two years ago is celebrating this weekend in style. Kalyn herself is hosting this round, and we're all asked to contribute a recipe using at least one vegetable and at least one herb [click here for the round-up]. Weekend Herb Blogging is a fun foodblogging event, and I've taken part quite frequently (you can see my WHB entries here). It's a great incentive to come up with new healthy vegetable dishes on a regular basis and to experiment with new herbs, providing variety and excitment to our daily diet.

For this special anniversary edition, I'm submitting a very simple dish that I cooked earlier this week. Yes, I could have come up with something hyper-unique and super-special, but then that's not how we eat usually here. A simple, homey dish is something that's much more useful, so that's what I chose. My featured vegetable is cauliflower - horrible, when old & overgrown, but wonderful, when young and fresh; my chosen herb is dill - definitely one of my favourite herbs, and a very common one here in the North-Eastern corner of Europe.

Cauliflower & Mince Gratin with Dill
(Lillkapsa-hakklihavorm)
Slightly adapted from Valio recipe for Kukkakaali-jauhelihapaistos
Serves 4



about 1 kg of cauliflower, cut into florets
300 grams lean mince (I used lean pork, with 5-7% fat*)
1 large onion
2 Tbsp oil
salt & coarsely ground black pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped (plus extra to serve)
2 eggs
300 ml single cream
200 grams grated (mozzarella or any other well-melting) cheese

Cut cauliflower into florets, boil for 5 minutes in a slightly salted water. Drain.
Heat the oil on a heavy saucepan, add onion and fry gently for 5 minuted. Add the minced meat, fry for another 5 minutes or so, stirring regularly, until browned all over. Season with salt, pepper and dill.
Spread the meat & onion mixture on a 25 cm pie dish, about 3-4 cm high. Place cauliflower florets on top.
Whisk eggs with cream, pour over the cauliflower florets.
Bake at 200 C oven for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake for another 10 minuted, until the cheese has melted and the dish is light golden brown on top.
Serve sprinkled with extra dill, and some green salad leaves or tomatoes.

* Kasutasin Rakvere delikatesshakkliha, rasvasisaldus 5-7%. Müüakse karbis.

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