Adam Weisell, the former executive chef of Aurora in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, grew up in Rome, where his father worked for the United Nations. His cauliflower sformato — a savory flan studded with a few tiny florets — is “a play on cauliflower and cheese,” he said. It is to cauliflower and cheese what a beignet is to an ordinary doughnut.

Because it is rich with butter, eggs, cheese and spices, eating one four-inch flan is nearly a complete meal in itself, especially when it is drizzled with a spoonful of fonduta sauce, a warm melt of heavy cream and Gorgonzola dolce. A salad is the apt accompaniment.

The sformato takes nearly two hours to make, but the upside is that it will last three days. In fact, it is easier to unmold if you warm it up the next day by reheating it, covered, in a water bath at 500 degrees for seven minutes. The sauce takes only a few minutes to make.

It is a lush little thing.