If you don’t live in the Northeast, you don’t know the joys of Wegman’s grocery stores. You West Coasters can keep your Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s as long as I’ve got Wegman’s. Not only is it an awesome place to shop, it’s also great for recipe inspiration.
One of my all time favorite recipes is cauliflower and spinach au gratin. It feels special, so it’s prefect for holiday meals, but it isn’t complicated, so it could easily work for a weeknight side. It has all the gooey decadence of macaroni and cheese or scalloped potatoes, but because the base is vegetables instead of a starch, it’s healthier (at least that’s what I tell myself when I go back for seconds).
Cauliflower and spinach au gratin on our holiday table.
Ingredients:
- 1 head cauliflower cut into florets
- Drizzle of olive oil
- 10 oz baby spinach
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup crushed Ritz crackers, divided
- 1 cup Alfredo sauce
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (or whatever you have on hand)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Spread cauliflower florets out on a tray lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and toss them around to coat.
- Roast the cauliflower for 20-30 minutes, stirring at least once. Take it out of the oven when it’s fork tender, but not mushy. You want to get some nice caramelization on it, like this:
- Lower oven temp to 350 degrees.
- Use your largest mixing bowl — this stuff is kind of a bear to combine, and using too small a bowl will just have you cursing as it all falls onto the counter. Into the bowl add the roasted cauliflower, the spinach, the Alfredo sauce, the cheese, 1/2 cup of crushed crackers, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.
- Spray a 9×13 baking dish with oil, and then spread mixture into pan.
- Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Half way through, stir once, and spread remaining cracker crumbs on top.
apricot / 317 posts
That looks A-MAZ-ING! I’m going to try a gluten-free version tonight (gluten free crackers to replace Ritz). Thanks for sharing!!
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
I might do this tonight!
blogger / pear / 1964 posts
@tlynne: I actually made a gluten-free version for Thanksgiving, as my MIL doesn’t do gluten. I just left the crackers out — didn’t notice anything missing.
cherry / 248 posts
I love wegmans! They do have great recipe ideas and this looks delicious. It’s great that they have consistent low prices on staples and their own brand of things is so good. I live in nj so I have trader joe’s and whole foods too but I prefer wegmans.
grapefruit / 4671 posts
This looks in credible! I wish we had wegmans in NYC.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
Haha I love this post. Wegmans is definitely a 100x more awesome than traders and whole foods.
kiwi / 558 posts
Wegmans is the BEST!!! My DH is from Rochester,NY where Wegmans was first started! We live in TX now but every time we are in the Northeast we always go in! It’s not just a store but an experience!! We always joke that Danny Wegman (Current Owner) made or provided our food whenever we have a family meal from there!
guest
This sounds good! Have you ever assembled it ahead of time and popped it in the oven at the last minute?
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
I tried it last night but made my own bechemel because I didn’t have alfredo. I used panko for the topping. It was delicious, but certainly calorie rich! At least it was veggies
blogger / pear / 1964 posts
@sandie – you could easily roast the cauliflower the night before and get the cheese shredded. Once those things are done, it’s 5 minutes of prep to mix it and put it in the pan. It might be fine to do the whole thing ahead of time – just not sure if the spinach might get soggy?
blogger / pear / 1964 posts
@Mrs. Jacks: Sometimes we have to sacrifice health for yum.
I can convince myself it’s not that bad since I’m eating spinach.