Description
Ever wonder how the French get their kids to eat their vegetables? They cover them in sauce and cheese! Colourful Rainbow Chard, smothered in creamy Béchamel then covered with cheese and baked. Swiss Chard au Gratin, it’s so good your kids won’t even care that it’s good for them!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 bundles of fresh Swiss Card, washed (about 20 stalks)
- 70 grams butter
- 70 grams all purpose flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- a pinch of nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons heavy (35% milk fat) cream (optional, see notes)
- 1 cup finely grated Comté Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375⁰f (190⁰c). Coat a small baking dish well with non-stick spray or cooking oil.
- Prepare your Béchamel Sauce; in a small pot met your butter over medium heat. When the butter is hot and bubbling, add all of your flour and whisk immediately to combine over medium heat, to make a roux.
- Cook your roux – stirring constantly so it doesn’t burn – until it starts to smell like cookies. Now add your cold milk, all at once, and whisk well to combine and remove any remove lumps. Reduce your temperature to medium-low and season to taste with salt, pepper and a dash of nutmeg. Whisk as it simmers to thicken. A perfect Béchamel will coat a spoon well, and if you run your finger through the sauce on the spoon and turn the spoon sideways, the sauce will not run. Once complete, remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Add approximately two inches of water and a teaspoon of salt to the bottom of a large pot and place it over high heat to come to a boil while you chop your swiss chard. Chop stalks a leaves in about two inch pieces, separating the tougher stalks from the tender leaves. Once water is at a boil, complexly turn off the heat but leave the pot on the element. Now add just the chard stalks to the water and cover with a tight fitting lid. Allow to steam for around 2 – 3 minutes. Now quickly add your swiss card leaves and put the lid back on for another 2 minutes. Remove the lid and turn the chard so that all of the leaves are well wilted, then immediately drain in a colander. Run steamed chard under cold water to cool as quickly as possible.
- This is the critical step in the recipe; while still in the colander press to remove any excess liquid. Then move the wilted, cool chard to the prepared baking dish and press it again. Now hold your hand over the chard and drain of all liquid again. Pour your béchamel over the chard until it’s just covered. If you prefer a looser sauce, drizzle in two table spoons of heavy cream (optional, see notes).
- Top with grated Comté cheese and bake at 375⁰f (190⁰c) for approximately 30 minutes, until the swiss chard is heated all the way through, and the sauce and the cheese are bubbling through the top. Serve immediately.
Notes
Sauce options: You can make Swiss Chard au Gratin with your sauce thick, or thin. In the shot above I’ve opted for a thinner, loose sauce with the addition of two tablespoons of cream in my Béchamel. The result is decadent, but the sauce is slightly thinner. Also, you could opt to use 10% cream in your sauce instead of milk, because you’re NAUGHTY.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 Minutes
- Category: Side Dishes
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: French