Cooking San Francisco

Potato and Swiss Chard Gratin with Gruyere

 

This recipe was born out of sheer necessity.  One day after Star Apple's monthly garden maintenance visit, I arrived home to find a bountiful harvest of chard on my kitchen counter. The vibrant rainbow chard that accents my garden had really taken to the San Francisco fog and now it was time to figure out how to prepare it.

Kerrie and I immediately thought of a favorite gratin recipe from Bellweather Farms (Petaluma, CA) and adapted it to include the chard. This combination of creamy potatoes, lively greens, and sharp, nutty gruyere cheese makes for a comforting side dish that goes nicely with roast turkey, or it can be served as a vegetarian entrée with a wild greens salad.

-Daphne

Cooks notes:
-A pasta pot with a strainer insert works nicely for boiling the potatoes and chard.
-You can adjust the quantities of potatoes and chard according to personal taste

1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced in half
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 large slice of onion
1 1/2 pounds yellow potatoes, ideally Yukon gold, thinly sliced
1 bunch Swiss chard, leaves cut from the ribs, leaves cut into 1/2 inch ribbons and ribs cut into 1/2 inch pieces
8 ounces crème fraiche
1 1/2 cups of Gruyere cheese, grated
salt
freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rub the inside of a medium-sized gratin or baking dish with both halves of the garlic clove (reserve garlic clove). Smear butter inside the dish, making sure to coat the bottom and sides.

2. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Carefully drop the sliced potatoes in the water along with the onion slice and reserved garlic clove and boil for 5 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the water with a strainer, but leave the water in the pot.  Put potatoes in a bowl and set aside.

3. Return the pot water to a boil and add the chard leaves and stems. Boil chard for 5 minutes. Remove chard from water, then drain on a paper towels (you can discard the water this time). Set aside.

4. Layer half of the potatoes in the gratin dish. Evenly distribute chard on top of potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with 4 ounces of crème fraiche and  _ cup of cheese. Layer the rest of the potatoes followed by remaining crème fraiche and cheese.

5. Bake for 40 minutes or until cheese is browned on top and gratin is bubbling and heated through.

Serves 8, as a side dish

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour

Lemon Couscous with Apricots and Pine Nuts

Couscous is a global dish enjoyed throughout the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas. It's easy to see why. The small granules of semolina flour are modest in flavor and easily consort with an array of foods and flavors. Though we often see it as an uncomplicated side dish served with a soup or stew, it can slip easily into a main course with the addition of crisp roasted vegetables, fresh herbs and full-flavored cheese. Our version combines perfumed, sticky, jewel-colored dried apricots with buttery, crunchy pine nuts (click here for a note about pine nuts from David Lebovitz).

We originally tested this recipe while playing around with some preserved lemons, however the recipe below includes lemon zest, which is an ideal substitute.  Now that barbeque season is on the horizon, we plan on serving this couscous with our Lemon Chicken Skewers.

2 cups couscous
2 cups water (or according to package directions)
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup spring onions or green onions, finely chopped
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 tablespoon lemon zest or finely chopped preserved lemons
1 tablespoon fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped

1. Add the couscous to a serving dish that has a cover or lid. In a saucepan bring water to a simmer and pour over the couscous. Cover and let sit until all of the liquid as evaporated, about 5 minutes.

2. In a small sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions. Sauté for 1 minute and season with salt and pepper.

3. Stir the onions, pine nuts, apricots, lemon zest (or preserved lemons) and parsley into the couscous and serve.

Serves 6 as a side dish

Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 5 min
Total Time: 15 min

Asparagus with Parmesan Breadcrumbs

We've just bought our first asparagus of the season and it's great to have you back, old friend!  Our favorite preparation method of the moment is broiling. It produces the same depth of flavor as roasting but in much less time. It's just important that you keep a close eye on the oven, as the high temperature will turn your tender green stalks to charcoal sticks if you aren't paying attention. (Honestly, for attention-challenged people like ourselves, this is the hardest part of this recipe). We think freshly made breadcrumbs work best for the topping. We put two pieces of sourdough bread in the food processor and ground them to the desired crumb size then added the cheese, zest, salt and pepper. If you already have bread crumbs, it's fine to toss everything together as the recipe states.

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 pounds asparagus, tough ends snapped off

1. Adjust oven rack so that it sits 6 inches below heating element and heat broiler. Toss breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese and lemon zest with 1 tablespoon olive oil in bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Toss asparagus with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil on large rimmed baking sheet and season well with salt and pepper. Spread asparagus in single layer on baking sheet and broil, shaking pan halfway through, until asparagus is tender and lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes.

3. Transfer asparagus to broiler-safe baking dish. Spoon breadcrumb mixture over asparagus and broil until lightly browned, 30 to 60 seconds, watching carefully. Serve.

Serves 4

Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 8 min
Total Time: 18 min

Baked Risotto with Parmesan Cheese

In the dead of winter (yes, even a 50 degrees-with-a-chance-of-rain San Francisco winter) it's hard to beat the creamy, yet chewy nuggets of Arborio rice that have absorbed flavorful chicken broth like
little sponges. We don't make risotto as much as we used to; the small children and their inevitable interruptions have made it challenging (at best) to stand over a stove and carefully stir the risotto until perfect broth absorption is achieved. Which is why we were thrilled to find this recipe in Donna Hay's Instant Entertaining. We discovered this gem of a recipe over the holidays and served it to a crowd on Christmas Eve about an hour after the cat jumped over a lit Duraflame log and ran up the chimney, but that's a story for another day. (He was heroically rescued and survived without a scratch.)