Fennel Gratin
This gratin is both gluten free and dairy free, thanks to gluten free bread crumbs, chao cheese and nutritional yeast. Note, I use butter in the recipe as that fits my family's needs. But the butter can be substituted with olive oil or dairy free "butter". The topping is versatile and could easily be used to make other gratins.
Ingredients
1-½ tablespoons
unsalted butter/oil/butter substitute
¾ cup chao cheese,
creamy original, grated
1-tablespoon
nutritional yeast
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon
chopped parsley
2 -3 fennel bulbs
(depending on size, enough to fill 8x12 casserole)
1/3 cup broth
(vegetable or chicken)
1/3 cup white wine
1 tablespoon
unsalted butter/butter substitute/olive oil
Salt and Pepper to
taste
Directions
Preheat oven to
375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cut tops off
fennel bulbs, cut in half vertically and cut out any dense core. Then slice each bulb into 6-8 equally sized
wedges.
Lay fennel in the
casserole, covering the bottom. Add
broth and wine over fennel and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Cut 1-tablespoon
butter into small pieces and place around fennel, or distribute I tablespoon
olive oil over top.
Cover casserole
tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes or until fennel is tender.
While fennel is
cooking, prepare the gratin topping:
Mix the
breadcrumbs with 1½ tablespoons melted butter (or olive oil). Add grated chao cheese, nutritional yeast,
parsley, lemon zest, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper and combine well.
When fennel is
tender, remove foil, cover the top with the breadcrumb topping, and return to
oven, uncovered. Increase temperature to
425 degrees and bake another 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.
