Swiss Chard Gratin

I am always looking for new things to do with leafy greens. At this point, I've done the quiche/fritatta, the pasta, the saute, the soup, etc. The only one I hadn't done (until recently) was the casserole. I'd seen several recipes for vegetable casseroles featuring chard or kale, but none had spoken to me. That was, until I heard tell of a swiss chard gratin recipe on AEB which had become "an AEB standard". Now, a good recipe is one thing, a stanard, go-to recipe, now that's a whole different animal. I had to try it.

The ingredient list was remarkably minimal, besides the chard, it was all standard pantry items. I took a cue from Kevin, over at Closet Cooking and roasted up the remaining half of a butternut squash I had in my fridge to add to the mix. Besides that though, I played by AEB's rules

Swiss Chard Gratin

a.k.a. Seafood Mornay's vegetarian cousin

Serves 3 as a main, 6 as a side.

1 (large) bunch Swiss chard
1 bay leaf
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
1/4 cup flour
1 stick butter, melted
2 cups milk
nutmeg
3/4 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano/ cheddar (I did half and half)
1/2 butternut squash, cut into 1/2" rounds and roasted (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Wash the chard and separate the stalks from the leaves. Slice the stalks into 1/4" by 3" pieces. Parboil in salted water with a bay leaf for 5 minutes, drain and set aside.

Slice the greens into thin ribbons. Wilt the greens in olive oil and garlic, working in batches if necessary. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. Set aside.

In a saucepan, stir the flour into the melted butter and place over medium heat. Stir constantly for 3 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and whisk in the milk, a few tablespoons at a time. When it has turned into a smooth paste, add the salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Cook, whisking constantly, until it has the consistency of a thick milk shake.

Butter a baking dish and spread the greens over the bottom. Add the stalks (and squash if using), then the sauce. Add a bit more nutmeg, then the cheese. Add a few pats of butter on top of the cheese and bake for 25 minutes, until a nice golden crust has formed.

AEB suggests serving with a salad, I agree. I highly recommend a simple green salad with a dijonaise dressing (olive oil, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard), as it cuts the richness of the gratin quite nicely.

Now, a few side notes:

1. You could sub in just about any leafy green here, and next time I make it, I might try using a few different types. I'll probably add *more* greens next time too, but that might just be my leafy-green addiction speaking.

2. This recipe makes a rather oozy (albiet delicious) gratin, not unlike seafood mornay. Again, one fix to this is more greens to soak up the sauce, or alternatively, one could add an egg, as is done in the Closet Cooking recipe, to make things stick together a bit better.

3. If you're feeling especially ambitious, this would make a killer crepe filling. Or better yet, make a double batch and use the leftovers in crepes.

A Tale of Two Loaves

It is January in the Northeast, a sad time on the fruit front. The clementines are getting mushy and saccharine, the strawberries are pallid and flavourless, and we are still 3 months away from seeing anything locally grown on our shelves. This is the time of year I fall into the banana-grapefruit rut. Bananas because I can throw them in my bag, grapefruits because they actually taste like something. However, it's also the time of year that the stores are selling grapefruits in huge mesh bags, and lovely green bananas that seem to go from underripe to overripe with little warning, and so, I have enough grapefruits to feed a small army, and a freezer full of brown bananas. So, it must be time to start baking.

The secret behind quick-breads is that the basic components are almost always the same. It's just the details which vary. As such, you can get away with baking multiple loaves (even from different recipes) at the same time. So, I decided to make a banana loaf and a grapefruit loaf, and freeze one (quick breads freeze nicely).

A Tale of Two Loaves, Banana Loaf (front) Grapefruit Loaf (rear) originally uploaded by CaitKP.

A quick note on concurrency here: It really is hard to assemble two different recipes simultaneously. You will likely get mixed up and end up with double the salt in one, and no salt in the other or worse yet, make the same mistake with the baking powder. So, that said, here's what I did: I took out all my ingredients and set them on the counter to come to room temp (eggs, butter etc.). Then, I made the batter for the grapefruit loaf, and let it sit while I made the banana loaf batter (another perk of quick-breads is that they're quite patient: you can let them sit for a while and they will come to no harm). Then I popped them both in the oven to cook for about an hour.

Grapefruit Bread

(makes 1 loaf)

The original recipe calls for much sifting and glazing. I did not sift or glaze. In fact, I think were I to do it over again, I would just bust out the beaters and beat. Also, if, like me, you're partial to pink grapefruits, they are a headache to zest without a zester. I gave up, peeled the whole thing (try to peel zest but not pith), and then finely chopped the resulting peelings. As long as you get small enough pieces, they will disappear when the loaf is baked, leaving only their tangy flavor behind.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 extra-large eggs
3 teaspoons grated grapefruit zest (approximately one large grapefruit)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a loaf pan (8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch, or somewhere thereabouts) with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another (larger) bowl, whisk or beat together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, grapefruit zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk or beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it’s all incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup grapefruit juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the grapefruit-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

Banana Bread

(makes one loaf)

Again, the orginal calls for much sifting. I had no sifter, only beaters.

1 3/4 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. mashed ripe bananas (I used 3)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a loaf pan (8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3 or so) with parchement paper.

Combine flour with baking powder and salt (sift if you feel so inclined). Cream butter and sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Add flour mixture alternately with bananas, small amount at a time, beating after each addition until smooth. Turn into your parchement-lined loaf pan, and bake for about an hour until done.

For me, the grapfruit loaf finished 10 min before the banana loaf (as predicted), but the best bet is to just trust the cake tester.