Roots and Grubs

The way we do things in the FC

Posted by mamster on Saturday, November 17, 2007

Like most cooks, I am eager for compliments. So when Laurie said the other day that what I made for dinner was one of the best things she’d ever eaten, that was a good day. And I owe it all to the new Fine Cooking web site. Well, I also owe it to bacon, cream, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and breadcrumbs.

Here’s the story. Fine Cooking, my favorite food magazine, recently revamped their web site, and it now has a searchable index of every recipe they’ve ever published. Only a subset of the recipes is free, however. If you want the whole thing, it’s $3/month, or $10/year if you already subscribe to the magazine, which I do. I paid up on the spot.

A couple days later, I was thinking about dinner. I knew I wanted to make fish, but I needed a side dish. I remembered that FC had published something about a creamy winter greens gratin, so I stopped at the library and looked it up and wrote out a shopping list.

The gratin ended up so overshadowing the fish that I served the gratin again as a main dish, and I recommend you do the same. It’s so rich and satisfying, you really won’t want anything else, except maybe a little bread to scrape the dish. Make it in medium gratin dishes and it will serve two for dinner.

GRATIN OF WINTER GREENS
Adapted from Fine Cooking, issue 77
Serves 2 as main course

This sounds a lot more involved than it is. Most of the steps can be done simultaneously. You can certainly omit the bacon for a vegetarian version.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
salt and pepper
1 cup heavy cream
2 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
3 slices bacon
2 cups cooked winter greens (see below)
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Select and prepare the greens. So far I’ve made this with kale and collards. Start with a lot more greens than you think you’re going to need—when I used collards, they cooked down more than I expected. Use a whole bunch of kale, chard, or collards, or two bunches of spinach. Boil a big pot of salted water and add the greens. Cook them until tender but not Southern-style tender—about 10 minutes for kale, 15 for collards, 1 minute for chard, 30 seconds for spinach. (Actually, I just don’t think I’d use spinach.) The recipe also suggests broccoli rabe, which sounds great. Drain the greens, squeeze them gently with a towel, and set them out on a baking pan while continuing with the recipe.

3. Put cream and garlic in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and simmer until the cream is reduced to 3/4 cup, about 5 to 8 minutes. Remove and discard garlic, season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

4. Melt 1 tablespoon butter and stir into the breadcrumbs. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

5. Cook the bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Crumble and set aside. Pour off the fat from the skillet and add remaining tablespoon butter. Set over medium heat. When butter is melted, add greens, stir to coat with butter, and season with salt and pepper.

6. Assemble the gratin. Divide the greens between two gratin dishes (or use one larger one). Add crumbled bacon and cheese. Pour the cream over and top with breadcrumbs. Bake 25 minutes or until bubbly and well browned. Cool 10 minutes before serving, if you can stand it.