I originally made this gratin with spinach – frozen spinach, actually. I always keep a bag of frozen spinach in the freezer and this is a perfect quick vegetable dish when the fridge is empty.
Then I branched out… and discovered it works with any vegetable. Or, at least it works with all the ones I’ve tried.
Especially other dark leafy greens.
Easy Chard Gratin
Ingredients:
- 8oz (250gr) chard, leaves and stems chopped
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp oregano
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
- 2 tsp olive oil
Instructions:
- Sauté the onion, chard stems and paprika in 1 tsp olive oil for 5 minutes, until onion is tender. Add chard leaves and stir-fry just until wilted.
- In medium bowl beat eggs well.
- Add yogurt, Parmesan and oregano. Mix well.
- Add chard and mix well.
- Lightly oil a small baking dish. Spoon in chard and bake at 400F (200C) for 30 minutes or until set.
- Remove and serve directly from baking dish.
We spent the weekend visiting our friend in the mountains (and watching the Ryder Cup)
The girls got to meet more of their extended family.
Below is their half great-great uncle Navatte who is 9 and their uncle Harpo, brother to their mother, Misty, age 4.
Navatte belongs to the son of a Spanish friend of our friend and Harpo belongs to the friend.
They were both (all) visiting as well. They called Friday night, said the weather looked great and could they come for the week-end.
Why not? There’s always room…..
Guapa was determined to get Uncle Harpo (named after the Marx brother) to play with her.
She succeeded….
Until Bonnie stuck her nose in and interrupted….
Both boys had a nice bark at the neighbors below.
My little girl dogs have not figured out how to jump up on the ledge…. Thankfully.
The two Spaniards, father and son, helped me fix dinner… Under the watchful eye of Navatte.
Our friend unilaterally nominated me chef for the weekend (Ryder Cup and all that).
Below is the other side of the kitchen. There are two (old) gas stoves – typical small European size so if one is using 2 large skillets or pots one goes on each stove.
The weekend got off to a humerous start (to some of us) when mon mari added chicken stock to his coffee.
Liquids in Spain all come in the same size and shape litre carton. In the fridge there were cartons of chicken stock, gazpacho, pineapple juice, apple juice and milk. Mon mari just grabbed the first one he saw and didn’t bother to read the label.
He was not pleased.
The weekend ended a bit frantically. Our friend had inadverdantly inhaled something that was causing him breathing difficulties so mon mari drove him down the mountain to the hospital… where he stayed (our friend, not mon mari).
We spent the evening lining up dog and cat sitters for the 2 or 3 days he’ll be gone. Which, in this tiny village in the mountains, was amazingly easy. Everyone wanted to help.
In between we walked the 7 big dogs (yes, 7 big dogs, all in the house, all on the walks), ate good Spanish ham and cheese; drank good Spanish wines.
And tried to resurrect our Spanish so we could talk to everyone. I have French class tomorrow morning…. I’m going to be a blithering idiot!
Finally, a word on Misty, the missing mother dog. Our friend believes she was killed by the deer she chased, or she would have come back. The red deer are on the increase in the area and are quite large, about the size of an American elk. If she had cornered it, it would have turned and attacked.
We’re sad.
RIP lovely Misty !!
What a glorious little sojurn you had with those 7 gorgeous doggies, my sort of holiday.
Meeting the relatives sounds like a lot fun for both the dogs and you.
That’s sad about Misty.
My chard is up and growing. I’ll book mark this to try in a month or so 🙂
manningroad, walks are a challenge – but I certainly feel safe LOL (except a little worried about getting knocked off the mountain by affectionate dogs)
Val, it was fun – the young lad was a riot trying to help me cook!
meredith, yeah, we missed Misty… She was the prettiest of the whole line (don’t tell my girls I said that). My chard is doing great – likes the cooler weather, I guess.