Marie Gallo has had a love affair with food beginning with family dinners in Belgium where her Italian family bonded over pasta and risotto. Today she still bonds around food, plying seniors with well wishes over the weekday lunches offered at The Senior Connection.

She fills her smartphone with images of food taken in places like The Laundry in San Francisco, Molokai and Paris. She regularly invites friends to her kitchen for cooking demonstrations by chefs from Michel’s Christiania and other local eateries. And she’s even taken her Sun Valley friends on food and cooking tours around the south of France.

Now, Marie shares her love of food, spicing it up with a little European flavor, in a new Eye on Sun Valley segment we’re calling “Marie’s kitchen.” Bon Appetit!

Cauliflower au gratin (choux fleur au gratin)

Bechamel sauce:

 1 oz of butter

2 oz of flour (all purpose)

20 oz of milk (2%)

2 oz of gruyere (shredded)

 In a small pan put the butter and melted it in medium heat. When the butter is melted set aside the pan and add the flour, create a roux ( it should look like glue) make sure you stir very well the 2 ingredients (butter and flour). Add the milk a little bit at the time and put the pan back to the medium heat, stir until you come to a nice thick/liquid consistency.

Make sure that your sauce is bubbly for at least 2 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and some nutmeg (maybe a teaspoon or less).

Cauliflower:

Bring some water to a boil, put the cauliflower in the boiling water for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes put the cauliflower in a pyrex and pour the Bechamel sauce on the cauliflower. Sprinkle some gruyere cheese on top of it. Cook in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes until you see a nice brownish color. Turn the broil on and cook for 2 to 3 minutes to have that nice gratin on top of the cauliflower.

This is a side dish that goes well with red meat or pork. 

Bon appetit, enjoy!