Our brains are wired to enjoy comforting textures: a dish that is warm, lush, smooth and a bit crunchy will bring most people on board. So vegetable gratin is a good place to start if you are trying to eat less meat, or trying to convince somebody else to do so. I promise—it hits your brain’s bliss point and makes you feel completely satisfied.

　　

Ingredients

4 servings

　　1 cauliflower, about 600g (1lb 5oz)

　　½ Savoy cabbage, about 300g (10½oz)

　　1 litre (1 quart) water

　　50g (3½ tbsp) salted butter, plus 1 tsp, and more for the top

　　75g (generous ½ cup) plain flour (all-purpose flour)

　　100ml (scant ½ cup) whole milk

　　½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

　　4 eggs, separated

　　2–3 tbsp breadcrumbs

　　Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

　　

Step 1

Cut the cauliflower into chunks and the cabbage into large pieces. Boil both in the measured, salted water for about 2 minutes. Drain over a bowl, reserving the cooking liquid.

　　

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.

　　

Step 3

Melt the 50g (3½ tbsp) butter in a saucepan over a medium-low heat and stir in the flour, mixing it into a smooth roux. Now start adding the reserved vegetable cooking water, little by little, stirring after each addition until all the lumps have gone, then add the milk in the same way. When it has all been added, season with salt, pepper and the nutmeg.

　　

Step 4

Turn off the heat and let the sauce cool a little. Then add the egg yolks and stir again. Fold in the cauliflower and cabbage.

　　

Step 5

In a separate, scrupulously clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold into the cauliflower mixture and season once more with salt and pepper.

　　

Step 6

Butter a large ovenproof dish or cake tin with the 1 tsp of butter and sprinkle the buttered inside evenly with some of the breadcrumbs. Spoon in the cauliflower mixture, cover with the remaining breadcrumbs, then place small dots of butter evenly on top.

　　

Step 7

Bake for 45 minutes, then serve.

　　Recipe excerpted with permission from Scandinavian Green: Simple Ways to Eat Vegetarian, Every Day by Trine Hahnemann, published by Quadrille, an imprint of Hardie Grant Publishing, October 2020.Buy the full book from Amazon or Bookshop.