Recipe by Pille @ Nami-Nami. All photos by Juta K�barsepp for the September 2014 issue of Kodu ja Aed ("Home and Garden"), an Estonian monthly magazine. I've been their food writer since October 2012.
There's this wonderful cauliflower cheese recipe that I make pretty regularly, as it's super easy, quick, tasty and flavoursome. It's also gluten-free and low-carb, and I always have some cheese and mustard and cream in the fridge. Early this summer I realised that exactly the same cheese-cream-mustard topping works spectacularly well with Swiss chard stems and leaves. I grow around three or four varieties of Swiss chard in my garden, and they thrive well, so I've got a steady supply of those nutritious leafy greens.
This dish looks especially pretty when you use bright and colourful Swiss chard (also known as mangold, silverbeet, rainbow chard). Here's the selection from my garden:
Swiss chard with cheese and cream
(Juustu-lehtpeedivorm)
Serves 4
a good bunch of Swiss chard (about 400-450 grams)
200 ml double cream
1 Tbsp wholegrain mustard
150 g cheese, shredded
salt and black pepper
Separate the ribs/stems from the greens. Cut the ribs into 5 cm/2 inch pieces. Blanch the ribs in lightly salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes, until they soften. Then add the leaves, and cook for another minute. Drain thoroughly.
Mix the cream and mustard, fold in most of the cheese and season with salt and pepper. Add the Swiss chard stems and leaves.
Transfer the mixture into a buttered oven dish, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
Bake in the middle of a preheated 200 C/400 F oven for about 30 minutes, until the gratin is lovely golden and crisp on top.
Serve and enjoy.
More Swiss chard gratin recipes:
Swiss chard gratin by Alanna @ A Veggie Venture
Baked Swiss chard stems with olive oil and Parmesan by Kalyn @ Kalyn's Kitchen
Swiss chard gratin with vegan bechamel by Clotilde @ Chocolate and Zucchini
Swiss chard gratin @ Whole Foods
Swiss chard gratin by Phoebe @ Feed Me Phoebe
Swiss chard au gratin @ Rachel Ray
Alice Waters' Swiss chard gratin @ Serious Eats
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