This was meant to be a kale gratin. But Reiver has a bunch of silverbeet (Swiss chard) planted out back, so we made it with that instead. Either one will work fine. I would normally default to kale because I like it better and am thus more likely to have it on hand, but I actually quite liked the silverbeet here!

Photo goes here.

Silverbeet Gratin

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 500g silverbeet (or kale), chopped
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 c. water
• 3/4 c. fresh breadcrumbs (preferably whole wheat)
• 1/4 c. grated Parmesan

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Heat 1 Tbsp. of the oil over medium heat.
3. Add the kale, salt, and water.
4. Cover and cook until wilted.
5. Transfer to shallow gratin dish.
6. Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and remaining 1/2 Tbsp. of oil and toss to combine.
7. Top the kale with the breadcrumb mixture.
8. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 15 minutes.

I don't normally cook with a lot of chard because neither TF nor I are big fans of it. I don't hate it, but I like kale and spinach better. And TF is strongly averse to it, so I usually just swap in kale anywhere that chard is called for.

I'm not cooking for TF right now though. I'm cooking for Reiver. And he has a whole garden full of chard (silverbeet), so I've been taking advantage of the fresh garden vegetables.

He also had some duck breast confit in convenient, ready-to-eat packages. So I figured they would work just as well as legs for this soup and make good use of ingredients on hand.

Lentil & Chard Soup

From Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan (p. 123)

Ingredients

• 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 yellow onion, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 carrot, peeled and minced
• 2 cups Puy (French) lentils, picked over and rinsed
• 8-10 c. water
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 thyme sprigs
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt (or vegetable stock powder/concentrate), divided
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 6 large chard leaves, chopped, including ribs
• 2 duck legs confit
• 8 baguette slices¹, cut on the diagonal

Directions

1. Warm 1 Tbsp. of the oil over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent (~2 minutes).
3. Add the garlic and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Stir in the lentils and water² and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low.
5. Add the bay leaf, thyme, 1 tsp. salt (or stock powder), and pepper and simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Add the chard and duck legs and cook until the lentils are almost tender (20–25 minutes).
7. Transfer the duck legs to a cutting board and, when they are cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skin.
8. Cut off the meat, discarding the bones. Coarsely chop the meat and stir all but about 1⁄4 cup into the soup.
9. Cook until the lentils are tender but not mushy (~10 minutes longer).
10. Remove and discard the bay leaf and thyme sprigs and stir in 1⁄2 tsp. salt.
11. Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, warm the 2 Tbsp oil over medium-high heat.
12. Add half of the baguette slices and fry until golden (~3 minutes). Turn and fry until golden on the other side (~2 minutes). Transfer to a paper towel–lined plate.
13. Repeat with the remaining baguette slices.
14. Ladle the soup into bowls. Garnish each with a fried crouton topped with a bit of the reserved duck meat.

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¹ I just made a bunch of smaller croutons out of some sale bread we had on hand: Cut into cubes, toss with a bit of oil, roast in oven until nicely crispy. ^Back
2 Add more or less water depending on how thick you like your soup. I like mine quite thick and stew-like, so I just used 8 c. of water. Use up to 10 c. for a soupier soup. ^Back

I've been doing a lot of sweet breakfasts lately. Which is fine to a point. They've certainly been tasty. But they aren't exactly the healthiest. (Not that every savoury breakfast is an exemplar of healthy eating, but I feel like it's easier to do a healthy savoury breakfast than a healthy sweet one on average.)

Anyway... I finally got out to do a proper grocery shop yesterday and restocked on eggs and greens, so I decided to give this simple baked egg recipe a try. It's nothing fancy, but it's a solid and reasonably healthy meal to start the day.

Baked Eggs with Greens and Cream

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• ~400g greens of your choice¹
• 2 tsp. butter, divided
• 4 large eggs
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 tsp. heavy (35%) cream, divided

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease four ramekins or an oven-safe frying pan.
2. Rinse the greens and chop into bite-sized pieces.
3. Blanch the greens in lightly salted water until wilted.
4. Drain the greens and divide amongst the ramekins or spread in the bottom of the pan.
5. Make a well in the greens for each egg.
6. Place 1/2 tsp. of butter in the bottom of each well.
7. Break an egg into each well and season with salt and pepper.
8. Pour 1 tsp. of cream over each egg.
9. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until whites are set and yolks have reached desired doneness (12-18 minutes).
10. Serve with toast and your choice of condiments. Mayonnaise and/or ketchup (tomato sauce) go well.

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¹ Spinach, kale, chard (silverbeet) or a mix of some combination of those all work well. ^Back

This was meant to be white beans with red chard, but TF and I don't acutally like chard (silverbeet), so we made it with kale instead. I think black kale would have been best for this, but we received a bunch of green kale in our most recent produce basket, so I justed used that. I don't like the texture quite as well, but it was fine.

This is not an amazing soup overall. But it's not bad. And it gave us some protein and extra fibre and veggies with our meal, which is what I was after. So, it got the job done, just not with a lot of flair.

White Bean Soup with Kale

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• ~400g kale
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 large sweet onions, chopped
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 6 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 (470g) cans cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese (or a mix of Parmesan and romano)

Directions

1. Cut the ribs and stems from the kale leaves. Chop both the leaves and the stems separately. Set aside.
2. Heat oil over medium heat.
3. Add onion, kale stems, salt, and pepper.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until softened (10-15 minutes).
5. Add garlic and thyme and cook for another minute or two.
6. Add stock and beans and bring to a boil.
7. Add kale leaves and cook until kale is tender (5-7 minutes).
8. Serve topped with cheese.

A Cook's Country recipe card, the original version uses swiss chard and cooks the potatoes, greens, and eggs separately before combining them on the plate. I'm not a fan of the intense bitterness of chard, so this verson uses the much milder baby chard along with other greens. The cooking process is also simplified, although it might be possible to simplify it further by cooking the garlic with the potatoes and then adding the greens once the potatoes are browned.

Eggs with Sweet Potato and Greens Hash

Cook's Country

Ingredients

• 450g Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled and cut into 1cm cubes
• 450g sweet potatoes, unpeeled and cut into 1cm cubes
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 10mL Lawry's seasoned salt
• 60mL olive oil
• 350g baby chard, kale, spinach, or other assorted greens
• 6 garlic cloves, sliced thin
• 10mL lemon juice
• 4-8 large eggs (depending on preferred egg:hash ratio)

Directions

1. Combine potatoes, sweet potatoes, onion, and half the salt in a large bowl and microwave, covered, until potatoes are almost tender, stirring halfway through, ~10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat 15mL oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add garlic, and cook until fragrant, ~30 seconds.
3. Add greens and remaining salt, and cook until just starting to wilt, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Buffer greens in a bowl and mix in lemon juice.
5. Heat remaining oil in the same skillet over medium high heat and add potato-onion mix. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, 10-15 minutes.
6. Mix in greens.
7. Make wells in the hash for the eggs. Crack the eggs into them, cover, and cook until eggs reach desired done-ness.
8. Serve.

Rustic Polenta Casserole with Mushrooms and Swiss Chard

This recipe is courtesy of my shiny new America's Test Kitchen cookbook. It is so tasty! It takes some time to put together, but it's not difficult. And it makes a decent amount and reheats beautifully the next day. It also works well as a make-ahead dish. You can cook the polenta and assemble the casserole ahead of time and then just pop it in the oven to warm it up and melt the cheese right before serving.

I will definitely, definitely be making this one again. I think this may be my new favourite way to use Swiss chard. And, honestly, I think if you have an abundance of chard, you could probably safely double it without upsetting the balance of the dish.

Polenta Casserole with Mushrooms and Swiss Chard

Slightly adapted from The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

• 3 c. water
• 1 c. whole (3.25%) milk¹
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 c. cornmeal/polenta²
• 60g Parmesan, grated (~1 c.)
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter³
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 700g-750g mushrooms, trimmed and sliced⁴
• 3 Tbsp. garlic paste (or 3 cloves garlic, minced)
• 1 tsp. dried thyme (or 1 Tbsp. fresh, minced)
• 1 (~800mL) can diced tomatoes⁵
• 250g Swiss chard⁶, stemmed and cut into 1" pieces
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 125g fontina cheese, shredded (~1 c.)⁷

Directions

1. Combine water, milk, cornmeal, and 1/2 tsp. salt and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally until very thick.⁸
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large pan over medium heat.
3. Add onion and 1/4 tsp. salt and cook until onion is softened.
4. Add mushrooms and cook until they have released their liquid and are well-browned.
5. Stir in garlic and thyme and cook for an additional minute or so.
6. Add tomatoes (and their juice) and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened (~10 minutes).
7. Stir in chard, 1 handful at a time, and cook until wilted.
8. Season with pepper (and, optionally, more salt if desired).
9. Once polenta is sufficiently hydrated and thickened (I usually find this takes ~an hour), remove from heat and stir in Parmesan and butter.
10. Pour polenta into a greased casserole (or lasagna pan).
11. Spread mushroom mixture on top of polenta.
12. Top with shredded fontina.
13. Bake for 15 minutes at 400°F.
14. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

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¹ I actually used 1/2 c. heavy (35%) cream + 1/2 c. 1% milk instead of whole milk. I know that works out to ~18% MF rather than the 3.25% of "standard" whole milk, but I had some whipping cream that needed using and I didn't really want to mess around with trying to get the exact percentage. I figured that, if anything, the extra fat would help "protect" the dairy from curdling while the polenta was cooking. <sup>Back

2</sup> The original recipe calls for "coarse-ground polenta". I didn't bother trying to find something that was coarse or specifically marketed as polenta. If you can find coarse-ground cornmeal, I'm sure that would be lovely. I just used the regular (medium-grind) that I already had on hand. And I was very happy with the results! <sup>Back

3</sup> I just realized that I totally forgot to add the butter to the polenta! I guess, between the missing butter and the extra cream the fat content probably just about balanced out to what it was supposed to be. Yay for happy coincidences! <sup>Back

4</sup> The original recipe calls for white mushrooms. I almost never use white mushrooms and default to substituting cremini (aka baby bella) anywhere that white mushrooms are called for. For this particular instance, it just so happened that there were a variety of other mushrooms on sale for half price, so I ended up doing a mix of everything from the sale bin: oyster, king oyster, white oyster, black oyster, enoki, and cremini. Personally, I would recommend that at least 1/3 of the mushrooms used in this recipe (~250g) be cremini, but feel free to go wild with the other 2/3! I loved the results of my mushroom mix. <sup>Back

5</sup> So, apparently I really wasn't awake when making this. I completely missed the tomatoes! It was delicious anyway. I'm sure it would be even moreso with the tomatoes though. It would give it a bit more substance and sauciness. At least the lack of tomatoes really gave all those varied mushrooms a chance to shine! I'll try making it with the tomatoes next time and see how it compares. That said, if dinnertime rolls 'round and you suddenly discover you're out of tomatoes, don't be afraid to make it without them! You'll still end up with an amazing dish. <sup>Back

6</sup> I think collard greens and/or beet greens would also work particularly well in this recipe. Spinach and/or kale would probably also do in a pinch. <sup>Back

7</sup> If you can't find fontina then provolone or a mild Gouda would make good substitutes. <sup>Back

8</sup> This is where ATK and I differ in our approaches. Normally I swear by their tips, tricks, and recommended techniques, but not for polenta! They recommend bringing the liquid to a boil first and then adding the cornmeal in a thin stream while stirring back and forth. This technique seems to be "common knowledge". "Everyone knows" that you have to add polenta to boiling water/liquid in a thin stream and stir it constantly or else you'll get clumpy, lumpy polenta. I don't do this. I just dump the cornmeal into the water in one big scoop. But I add it while the water is still cold. I've never had a problem with polenta cooked this way being at all lumpy. Even when I neglect the stirring quite a bit. I got this tip from a page on Serious Eats and it has never failed me. ^Back