After a botched attempt to find kale at the market – well, it wasn’t botched, it was just badly timed; the woman standing three customers in front of us bought out all of the remaining kale from the only stall that had any to begin with – I vowed to start earlier the next week. So we did. We went earlier in the day and we went a whole day earlier. And we were rewarded: there was plenty of kale around. This time I bought it on a stalk, which I’d never seen before. And because I learned from my mistakes, I bought two stalks.
It was a lot of kale.
So with no further ado I started preparing the kale. It took forever, but the results were totally worth it. I made two recipes from Smitten Kitchen; even though Deb swears she doesn’t like kale, her kale recipes are delicious!
This one gets bonus points because it was totally a pantry item. We didn’t have breadcrumbs, but we did have the end of a loaf of French bread which we threw in the food processor for home-made breadcrumbs.
This recipe was hearty, flavorful, chewy and good. Tasted good. Tasted good for you. Felt good to eat. And it was a hit with the friends we shared it with.
Wild Rice Gratin with Kale, Caramelized Onions, and Baby Swiss
From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
Yield: 10 to 12 as a side dish
Ingredients:
Wild Rice
5 cups cooked wild rice (from 1 2/3 cups, 10.5 ounces, or 300 grams uncooked)
Caramelized Onions
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large sweet onions, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon table salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 cups stemmed, ribboned kale leaves (from an 8-ounce or 225 gram bundle)
Assembly
2 cups (8 ounces or 225 grams) coarsely grated Emmentaler or another Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 tablespoon to grease dish; 1 tablespoon, melted, for crumbs)
3/4 cup (180 ml) fine, dry breadcrumbs
table salt
freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Cook the rice according to package directions. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Meanwhile, caramelize the onions. Heat the butter and olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion, sprinkle with salt and a little pepper, and cook until they’re tender and sweet, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Add the kale ribbons, and cook until they wilt a bit, about 5 minutes. Stir together the onion-kale mixture, wild rice, and 1 cup grated cheese in a large bowl. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if needed.
Assemble the gratin. Use 1 tablespoon butter to generously coat a 2-quart baking dish. Spread the wild-rice mixture into prepared gratin and pour broth over it. Sprinkle remaining cheese over gratin. Toss breadcrumbs with 1 tablespoon melted butter and salt and pepper to taste; sprinkle over cheese.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a little bubbly and beginning to brown on top.