Gratin di cavolini di Bruxelles e funghi (Brussels Sprouts and Mushroom Gratin)

Frank23 November 2019sides/contorno38 Comments

Properly prepared, Brussels sprouts are a lovely vegetable. Called cavolini di Bruxelles or ‘little cabbages of Brussels’ in Italian, these most elegant of all the cruciferous family of vegetables lend themselves to all sorts of treatments, from a simple sauté to deep frying to this rich and creamy gratin, complemented with the woodsy flavors of mushroom and cured pork.

Gratin di cavolini di Bruxelles e funghi makes a fine side dish for Thanksgiving dinner or any other holiday or special occasion meal, as it pairs particularly well with large roasts—whether it’s turkey, roast beef, ham or a rack of lamb. It’s also rich enough to stand on its own as a light everyday main course. Served with a full bodied red wine, it will warm the cockles very nicely on a chilly evening.

Ingredients

500 g (1 lb) Brussels sprouts, trimmed
150 g (5 oz) mushrooms, roughly chopped
50 g (1-1/2 oz) pancetta, cut into lardons
1-2 shallots, finely minced
Olive oil
Butter
Salt and pepper

For the topping:

1 batch of béchamel, made with 2 cups of milk
25g (1 oz) Parmesan cheese
75g (2-1/2 oz) Fontina, Emmenthal or other meltable cheese (optional)

Directions

Parboil the Brussels sprouts in salted water for 7-10 minutes or so, depending on their size, until they are just slightly underdone. Drain and refresh under cold water. Let the sprouts cool and cut them in half from top to bottom. (Leaving any small ones whole if you like.)

In a braiser large enough to hold all the sprouts and mushrooms comfortably, sauté the shallots and the pancetta in a bit of olive oil for just a few moments, long enough for the shallots to wilt slightly. Add the chopped mushrooms and a pinch of salt. Let them sauté briskly, until they’ve reduced and just begun to brown around the edges.

Now turn down the heat to medium and add the Brussels sprouts, along with a good knob of butter, letting everything simmer together for a good 5 minutes more, tossing from time to time. Taste and adjust for seasoning as you go.

Transfer the Brussels sprouts and mushrooms mixture to a buttered baking dish.

Prepare the béchamel sauce following the instructions in this post, folding in the fontina and about half the Parmesan at the end and letting them melt completely into the sauce. Nap the sprouts generously with the béchamel, then top with the rest of the Parmesan and dot the top with butter.

Bake in a hot (220C/425F) oven for 15-20 minutes, until bubbling and nicely browned to your liking on top.

Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Notes

The only slightly tricky part of the recipe is making the béchamel. Make it to a medium thickness, thick enough to nap the sprouts nicely but loose enough to allow for evaporation while it bubbles and browns it the oven

In Italy, you might use a ready-made bechamel sauce, which is widely sold in supermarkets. It’s not nearly as good as homemade, of course. But in a pinch, it’s a time-saver. And when mixed with lots of other flavors, as in lasagne, you may not notice much of a difference. Funny that it doesn’t appear to be a thing in this country, although I recently discovered you can buy it online.

The Brussels sprouts can be left whole if you prefer, but cutting them in half does allow the flavors of the seasonings to penetrate rather better. Or just cut the larger ones in half. But only cut them after they’ve been parboiled to avoid water-logging them.

Porcini mushrooms would be lovely in your gratin, if you can find them and have deep pockets. But really any kind of mushroom will do, even plain old button mushrooms. I rather like the mushroom mixes they sell these days. This week I found a mix of oysters and shiitake at our local supermarket, which I liked very much.

The recipe is flexible. If you’re a vegetarian, omit the pancetta and you’re good to go. (There’s no way I can think of to successfully veganize this dish, though.) If you’d like a lighter dish appropriate for an everyday meal, you can stop after the third step and serve the sautéed sprouts and mushrooms without gratinéing them, as pictured above. They’ll be perfectly delicious. If you want something even richer, on the other hand, add more cheese in the sauce or on top.

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