When I was looking for an alternative potato side dish to pair with grilled steak, I came up with this one. Everyone loved it extremely much!
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped, or more to taste
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 teaspoon olive oil, or as needed
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- ½ pound bacon
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon milk, or as needed (Optional)
- 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese, divided
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×13-inch casserole dish.
- Place potatoes and cauliflower into a large pot and cover with water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until tender but firm, about 20 minutes. Drain and transfer potatoes and cauliflower to the prepared casserole dish.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir onion in the hot oil until transparent, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer cooked onion to the potato mixture.
- Place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on paper towels and crumble over potato mixture, reserving bacon grease in skillet.
- Melt butter into bacon grease in skillet over medium-low heat; whisk flour into butter-bacon grease mixture. Gradually stir cream into flour mixture until smooth; add milk if cream sauce is too thick. Whisk half the Swiss cheese, half the mozzarella cheese, garlic powder, salt, and pepper into cream sauce until cheeses are melted.
- Pour cream sauce over potato mixture and toss to coat; top with remaining Swiss cheese and mozzarella cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven until casserole is bubbling and cheese is lightly browned, about 30 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 611 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 35 g |
| Cholesterol | 119 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 20 g |
| Saturated Fat | 23 g |
| Sodium | 547 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 45 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made so many substitutions that my review is not really relevant, but the basic idea is new to me and will become a regular in my meal planning. I am in China and this is radish season, so I sliced a large, red radish and boiled with the potatoes. I didn’t have cream but I don’t think it lacked richness. With the potatoes and radish I didn’t have room for the cauliflower, so that stayed in the frig. I like green peppers and added that to the onion. Following the other reviews, I fried the bacon and used the rendered fat to saute the onions and green pepper. I made a roux with the fat and some flour and remained relatively faithful to the recipe after that. Very versatile and yummy!
Like “Its a New Day,” I cooked the bacon first and fried the onions in the grease, then used the onion/grease to make the sauce. The only other change I made was to use whole milk instead of cream, and to layer everything instead of mix together (this was because I was short on time). The cheese sauce managed to get through to the bottom and everything was coated in the cheese sauce. Oh, and for “salt to taste” in the sauce, I used 1 teaspoon. The family liked it a lot. I think they still prefer the “loaded cauliflower cassarole,” but this is a happy second choice for what to make when I get a cauliflower in the CSA box.
Good recipe but directions at least for me could be changed. Why fry the onions in a separate pan in olive oil when you’ve got bacon grease? Fry the bacon, remove it to a paper towel, and dump the chopped onions in the hot grease. After a few minutes, add the flour and make your cream sauce in the pan. Perfect! I left my cauliflower florets fairly large because I had small new potatoes to use and wanted them to be the same size. I wish I’d cut my potatoes smaller but that was my fault. I didn’t have swiss cheese but used a few remnants I had left in my fridge which was mostly a combination of mozzarella, provolone and sharp cheddar. Also, there’s no way that needs to be put in a 9×13 pan. I used a small Pyrex casserole and it fit perfectly. Overall, the casserole was good and I enjoyed it for my lunch. It’s like au gratin potatoes with cauliflower and bacon added in.