This was originally meant to be a rainbow chard gratin with ricotta and gruyère. TF isn't particularly fond of chard (silverbeet) though and I couldn't get any gruyère, so I ended up swapping in a mix of spinach and kale and some low-fat Swiss cheese instead. I also halved all the quantities so that I could make a smaller gratin as three pounds of kale seemed like... a lot. And this smaller quantity also perfectly used up the half tub of ricotta that I had left over. And I'm very happy with how this worked out! It's not amazing, but it makes for a perfectly acceptable vegetable side dish.

Kale Gratin with Ricotta and Swiss

Adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 680g kale¹
• 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 c. ricotta
• 60g grated Swiss cheese
• 1/2 Tbsp. Roman mustard
• 1/2 c. breadcrumbs²

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F) and grease a casserole dish.
2. Chope the kale, keeping the stems and leaves separate.
3. Heat the oil over medium heat and add the kale stems, onion, and garlic and cook until softened (~6 minutes).
4. Add the kale leaves, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook until wilted (~4 minutes).
5. Meanwhile, combine the ricotta, Swiss, and mustard and mix well.
6. Once the greens are cooked, try to press out and discard as much liquid as possible.
7. Add the cheese mixture to the greens and stir to combine.
8. Press the mixture into the prepared casserole dish and top with breadcrumbs.
9. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 20 minutes.

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¹ Ideally this would be made entirely with fresh kale. I didn't have enough, so I made up the difference with some frozen spinach. ^Back
2 The recipe called for fresh breadcrumbs, but I was feeling lazy and just used panko instead. I'm really happy with the results this gave. ^Back