Swiss Chard and Sweet Potato Gratin

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, serves 4-6 (entree) or 8-10 (side dish)
Date made: 3/12/2012


1/4 cup butter
1 small onion, diced
2 lbs Swiss chard, leaves and stems separated, cut into 1-inch pieces*
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups heavy cream or whole milk*
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tablespoons flour
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch thick rounds*
1/2 Tbsp. dried Italian parsley
1/2 Tbsp. dried ground thyme
Fine sea salt
Black pepper
1 1/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F, and grease a 9×13 baking dish. 

Saute onion in 2 tablespoons butter in a large pot over medium-low heat, stirring until softened. Add chard stems, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste.
Cook, stirring, until vegetables are tender but not browned, about 8 minutes
Increase heat to medium-high and add chard leaves.  Cook, while stirring, until all greens are wilted.

Combine cream or milk and garlic powder in small saucepan.
Bring to simmer and keep warm.
Melt two tablespoons butter in a medium heavy saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in flour, and whisk for one minute.  Slowly whisk in warm cream/milk and boil while whisking for one minute.  Season sauce with salt and pepper.

Spread half of sweet potatoes in the baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, a quarter of the herbs and a 1/4 cup of the cheese.
Repeat with half of the greens mixture, and sprinkle salt, pepper, a quarter of the herbs and 1/4 cup of the cheese over it.
Pour half of the sauce over the first two layers then continue with the remaining sweet potatoes, more salt, pepper, herbs and cheese and then the remaining greens, salt, pepper and herbs.
Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the gratin, and sprinkle with the last 1/4 cup of cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes.  Uncover and then bake for another 30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and the sweet potatoes are fork tender.
Broil for about 5 minutes to give the surface a golden color (optional), and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I had sweet potatoes and swiss chard left from last week's Hollygrove box, so I gave Jason a list of 3 or 4 recipes to choose from to use the ingredients.  Luckily, we had all the ingredients for the one that he picked!  Taking advantage of what we had in our refrigerator, for the sauce I used 1 cup whole milk and 1/2 cup buttermilk (leftover from all the baking I've done the last couple weeks!).

I found that this recipe was a little labor intensive, like a lasagna, but it turned out super tasty.  Jason doesn't really like the sweetness of sweet potatoes, I think that the herbs and seasonings helped cancel that out since it was no sweeter than baked or roasted carrots.  I served it over some local brown rice to eat as an entree.

Great Green Vegetable Pasta

Adapted from Simply in Season, serves 4
Date made: 5/2/2011

1 c ricotta cheese
1/2 c milk*
1/3 c Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt
12 oz penne pasta
2 1/2 c broccoli florets*
1 1/2 c zucchini, sliced*
3/4 c green beans*
1/2 c peas*
1/4 c green onions*

Stir together ricotta cheese, milk, Parmesan cheese, garlic, basil, parsley, and salt and set aside.
In large soup pot of boiling water, start cooking pasta according to package directions.
Stir in broccoli 6 minutes before pasta is done.  Boil 3 minutes, and stir in zucchini and green beans.  Boil 2 minutes, and stir in peas and green onions.
Boil 1 minute, remove from heat.  Drain well, and return to soup pot.
Add ricotta cheese mixture to pasta and vegetables, and mix well.

Turnip Sweet Potato Gratin

Adapted from The Chubby Vegetarian, serves 2
Date made: 4/17/2011

3 small sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced*

5 small turnips, peeled and thinly sliced*

2 oz Parmesan cheese

1 egg

1/4 c milk*

1 tsp dried thyme

2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 9-in loaf pan and start layering vegetables, alternating sweet potatoes and turnips between layers.

Sprinkle a little salt and pepper in every other layer.

Blend remaining ingredients in food processor until smooth. Pour mixture evenly over root vegetables. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

Uncover, drizzle with olive oil, and bake a 15 minutes longer.

Broccoli Gratin

Adapted from Simply in Season, serves 4-6
Date made: 1/28/2011

1 head of broccoli, cooked until crisp-tender and cut in chunks*
2 green onions, chopped*
1 clove garlic
1/4 c flour
2 c milk
1 c cheddar cheese, shredded
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of nutmeg and ground red pepper
1 c bread crumbs
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1 Tbsp dried parsley

In small saucepan, saute onion and garlic in oil over medium heat until fragrant and tender, about 5 minutes.  Sprinkle flour over onions and garlic.  Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes without browning.
Whisk in milk and bring to a boil.  Add spices and cook for 5 minutes.
Stir in cheddar cheese and remove from heat.  Combine with broccoli in a 8x8 casserole dish.
Combine bread crumbs, butter, and parsley and sprinkle on top of broccoli mixture.  Bake for about 20 minutes at 350°F.

The original recipe called for 5 cups of broccoli; the head that I had was only about 2-3.  So the cheese sauce is probably a little overkill since I forgot about the difference and didn't scale it down.  However, I think it's still yummy!