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This oven-baked coquillettes au gratin with cheese is a classic, indulgent, easy and comforting dish. Believe me, you'll love this home-style cooking that will take you back to childhood in no time.
If you like comfort food, you'll love this authentic Croziflette (French pasta gratin), this delicious spicy mac and cheese or these Roman semolina gnocchi.
Table des matières
💙 Why you'll love it
- It's very easy to make and quite quick: perfect for a lazy evening or an on-the-go lunch.
- It requires very few ingredients: just 5 main ones!
- It's economical yet gourmet and comforting.
- It can be kept for several days, making it ideal for batch cooking.
🧀 Ingredients
These are the main ingredients, and the quantities can be found in the recipe card below.
- Pasta: in France, we traditionally use Coquillettes but you can also use Ditalini or any other type small elbow-shaped pasta you like.
- Crème fraîche
- Milk: whole, not semi-skimmed. That's what's going to make all the difference!
- Ham: I use white ham, but you can use any kind you like (herb, smoked, truffle or even Coppa).
- Swiss cheese: grated, or another grated cheese (feel free to adapt to your tastes: mozzarella, Gouda, etc...).
- Chives: they're optional, but I find they add that little extra "je-ne-sais-quoi"!
✅ Vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free version
- To make this recipe vegan, replace the traditional crème fraîche with vegetable cream (soy or almond, for example), the ham with faux bacon (yes, it exists now and it's delicious!) and the Swiss cheese with grated vegan cheese of your choice.
- To make this recipe gluten-free, use gluten-free pasta. In principle, Swiss cheese is gluten-free.
- To make this recipe dairy-free, replace the crème fraîche with vegetable cream (soy or almond, for example) and the Swiss cheese with grated vegan cheese of your choice.
💡 Frequently Asked Questions
I'd do it at the last minute if I were you, as it's likely to be less moist and melting. But if you still want to make it ahead of time, here are the instructions: once cooked, film it on contact and put it in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, simply pop it in the oven or microwave for a few minutes, with a little milk to restore its creamy texture.
Yes: for example, you can add slices of black truffle, replace the ham with seasonal vegetables, mushrooms, tuna or salmon, replace the crème fraîche with a béchamel sauce or gratinate with Brie cheese instead of Swiss cheese, tartiflette style.
❄️Storage
Once cooled, place in an airtight container and refrigerate. This means you can keep it for 3 to 4 days.
🍝 Other gourmet pastas
- Linguine with lemon and mascarpone
- Pasta with eggplant caviar and burrata
- Pasta with Gorgonzola cream and mushrooms
If you make this French coquillettes au gratin, it would be so nice to leave me a comment and rate the recipe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. You can also tag me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook or Tik Tok, or even send me a photo, I love seeing my little dishes in your homes!
📖 Recette
French coquillettes au gratin
Ingredients
- 8 ½ cups small, elbow-shaped pasta Coquillettes, Ditalini, etc...
- 1 ½ cups creme fraiche
- ⅓ ⅛ cups whole milk
- 10.5 oz cooked ham
- 2 ¼ cups Swiss cheese freshly grated
- fine salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- chives optional
Instructions
- Bake the pasta for the time indicated on the packaging. Preheat your oven to 390°F/200°C in natural convection/static heat mode, high and low.
- Meanwhile, dice the ham. Once drained, mix the coquillettes with the crème fraîche, whole milk, diced ham, half Swiss cheese, salt and pepper.
- Place in an ovenproof dish and top with the remaining Swiss cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese has melted (you can also bake au gratin if you wish). Add a few sprigs of finely chopped chives if you like, and enjoy piping hot!
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