Swiss Chard and Sweet Potato Gratin

The planning before Christmas had me combing trusted blogs in persuit of a side that was not our family's regular fare but still would be tasty and well received. I found this delightful recipe on Smitten Kitchen's blog for Swiss Chard and Sweet Potato Gratin.

There's no doubt that prepping the chard is a bit of work but the end result was so worth the effort. I slimmed down the heavy cream to 2% milk and found that the recipe didn't lose in translation.

Apologies for the dark picture but it was taken in a low light room.





Serves 12
1/4 cup (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 pounds Swiss chard, leaves and stems separated and both cut into 1-inch pieces
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups heavy cream or whole milk
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons flour
2 pounds medium red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), peeled and cut into 1/8-inch thick rounds
1 tablespoon minced fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups (about 5 ounces) coarsely grated Gruyére cheese

Prep greens: Cook onion in 2 tablespoons butter in a wide 8-quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add chard stems, pinch of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring, until vegetables are tender but not browned, about 8 minutes. Increase heat to moderately high and add chard leaves by large handfuls, stirring, until all greens are wilted. Season with salt and pepper then transfer greens to a colander to drain well and press out liquid with back of a large spoon.

Make sauce: Combine cream or milk and garlic in small saucepan; bring to simmer; keep warm. Melt two tablespoons butter in a medium heavy saucepan over moderate heat and stir in flour. Cook roux, whisking, one minute, then slowly whisk in warm cream/milk and boil, whisking, one minute. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

Assemble gratin: Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter deep 9×13 baking dish. Spread half of sweet potatoes in the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, a quarter of the herbs and a 1/4 cup of the cheese. Distribute half of the greens mixture over the cheese, then sprinkle salt, pepper, a quarter of the herbs and 1/4 cup of the cheese over it. Pour half of bechamel sauce over the first two layers then continue with the remaining sweet potatoes, more salt, pepper, herbs and cheese and then the remaining greens, salt, pepper and herbs. Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the gratin, pressing the vegetables slightly to ensure that they are as submerged as possible. Sprinkle with the last 1/4 cup of cheese.

Bake gratin for about 1 hour until golden and bubbly, and most of the liquid is absorbed. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Note: I baked it the day before and warmed it the day of and it was great. I wouldn't hesitate to make this recipe again. It was a huge hit.

Cookie Explosion: Sugar Cookies, Gingerbread Cookies & Shortbread Cookies

I've been slacking on trying new recipes. I started a new job around the middle of the year and it's the type of job that can be consuming if you let it. As a result, I end up pretty exhausted by the end of the day, which makes cooking more of a burden than pleasure.

So...here's the resolution. Get back to cooking/baking for pleasure. This requires a second resolution: sleep. There's something about the hours after midnight that seem enticing to me. But, that doesn't work well if I have to be awake in the hours before 10am. So, I need to get to bed earlier and on a more regular schedule so that I have the energy to not only work a full day, but also do more in the evening (like cook) other than wait until my, post 10:00pm, "second wind".

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Speaking of baking for pleasure...the pre-Christmas baking day that I had with some friends was a tonne of fun. Making three triple recipes of cookies could have been a disaster. You never know when sharing a kitchen with others... But, it worked out well and we made a tonne of cookies over the course of an afternoon.

Recipe 1: Sugar Cookies (previously posted about here)

I warned my friends that the recipe makes a lot of cookies. But we threw caution into the wind and tripled the recipe.

Alcohol may have been a factor in that decision...

As with my previous experience with this recipe, the cookies turned out well. We needed to stick the dough in the freezer for a bit before rolling, but we quickly got a routine down. Drink wine...roll dough..cut out...oven...repeat.


I ended up taking some of these cookies to friend's after a moment of Jackson Pollock inspiration.

Next up is Shortbread Cookies (source)

3/4 cup (175 mL) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 mL) cornstarch
1/2 cup (125 mL) butter, softened
1/4 cup (50 mL) granulated sugar
1/4 tsp (1 mL) vanilla
Decorations:
1/2 cup (125 mL) milk chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 tsp (1 mL) vegetable oil

The Steps

1. Line 2 rimless baking sheets with parchment paper. • Place oven rack in centre of oven. Heat to 300°F (150°C).

2. Make dough • In mixing bowl, whisk flour with cornstarch. • In large mixing bowl and using wooden spoon, beat butter with sugar until fluffy. Stir in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, half at a time, to make smooth dough with no streaks.

3. Roll into balls • On lightly floured work surface and using hands, roll dough into two 9-inch (23 cm) logs; cut each log into 9 pieces. Roll each piece into ball. • Place, 2 inches (5 cm) apart, on prepared baking sheets.


4. Bake cookies • Bake, 1 sheet at a time, in centre of oven until bottoms are golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. • Wearing oven mitts, transfer baking sheets to rack. Let cool for 2 minutes. Using metal spatula, transfer cookies to rack and let cool completely.

Here are some of the final product hanging out next to a mound of sugar cookies:


Initially, we just rolled the shortbread into balls, but shifted to pressing them down after one batch. Again -- really good recipe. But we were surprised with how few cookies came out of a triple batch.

Last...but not least...Gingerbread Cookies (source)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional - I excluded)

1. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended.
3. Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.


4. Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
5. Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
6. (Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.) Preheat oven to 375°.
7. Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
8. Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
9. Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin.
10. Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.
11. Use additional flour to avoid sticking.
12. Cut out cookies with desired cutter.



13. Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
14. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookiew).
15. Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.


Although I'm not the biggest fan of gingerbread, everyone that tried the cookies said that they were very good.

About half of the cookies we made over the course of the day:

Birthday Lunch

Several months ago, my dad mentioned that he was thinking of planning a surprise birthday for my stepmom. My dad isn't exactly the social planner of the family, so I wasn't sure how all of this would pan out. But, I committed to attending.

After a few months of asking my dad what the plan was, I realized that his plan was to delegate. Memories of my childhood where cleaning up the house consisted of my dad reading through newspapers to decide if he was ready to recycle them, while the rest of us cleaned, came flooding back. This is the same guy who, when questioned about what he was doing to contribute to cleaning, would say (in complete seriousness), "I'm supervising".

Birthday planning became a joint father-daughter effort.


That's not to say that we didn't have help from others. Actorboy (check sidebar if you don't know who this is) was in charge of entertainment. He tried to find a way to make a medley of sorts out of this song (or the not-so-radio-friendly version), replacing the chorus with my step-mom's name.



That didn't really get very far.

For decorations, my aunt wanted to do something a bit "outside of the box". I tried very hard to be open-minded... But I just couldn't wrap my mind around the idea of having pet food as a centrepiece. Here's the sample she created:


In the end, we went with homemade bouquets made out of fall-coloured flowers:




The birthday lunch was held at the Hotel Fort Garry. It is one of a small number of locations in Winnipeg that offers kosher catering. If it were up to me, I would not hold an event at this venue. I think they need someone with good attention to detail to go in there and shake the place up.

However, I will say that I was pleasantly surprised with the food. We went with a "Prairie Menu" that the guests really liked. The mains (salmon and chicken) were well-prepared and the menu is neutral enough that every guest can find something he/she will eat. In hindsight, the add-on of latkes (it was Hannukah time) was not a great idea (fried potatoes + warming trays = rubbery weirdness).








The best part was that the surprise worked! With a number of failed surprises under our belts (including the time where I announced that the cover plan would interfere with the surprise party...in front of the guest of honour...oops), we were thrilled to pull this one off. My poor dad had to endure months of wanting to talk about the event with my stepmom, only to remember that it was a surprise.

As soon as we yelled "SURPRISE", I felt so relieved. Although I may not be going opening a party-planning business with my dad or brother, I'm glad we were able to pull ourselves together to celebrate my stepmom's birthday.