cook: cheesy creamed kale gratin

Next up on a busy Thanksgiving morning and early afternoon was Sohla El-Waylly's Cheesy Creamed Kale Gratin. I was eager to use one of my brand new Dutch ovens. I had bought one-pound packages of kale already chopped and washed to which I added just a little bit of water to steam the vegetable. And the kale cooked down in volume considerably.

I took out the Gruyere cheese and chopped 5 cloves of garlic. I melted and heated the butter until foamy in the same pot that I cooked the kale, and then added the 3 tablespoons of flour, salt and pepper and nutmeg, and a dollop of Dijon mustard. 

  

I added the milk and cream (I was low on milk and so it was a cup of milk and a half cup of heavy cream). After simmering the liquids in the roux and whisking well, I added the shredded cheese. Too much cheese I think. I'm going to alter the recipe the next time I cook this by adding only half the Gruyere cheese and maybe a slice or two of Emmenthaler.  And aaargh, I had forgotten to sauté the chopped garlic, and so added it in with the steamed kale into the cheese sauce.

 

The kale and cheese sauce did become redolent with the aroma of garlic, whew. 

 

And so I started the cracker crumb or gratin mixture. I melted butter and added honey and Dijon mustard to the frothing butter and then stirred it into a sleeve of Ritz crackers. I should have used saltines which I didn't have, but I'll buy them before I cook this dish again for Friendsgiving. Yep I'm cooking this dish again with the other bag of kale I bought. And so next time use a bigger sleeve of crackers and a less buttery cracker.

 

I thought the dish looked yummy and needed to have been baked right then and there...

But instead I put the lid on the casserole which ended up steaming the cracker topping on the creamed kale dish and didn't allow the moisture to drive off. And so next time, leave the lid off and just pop the casserole into the oven to get even hotter and brown and crisp the cracker topping, which I won't add to the creamed kale until time to bake.

And so everything was packed up and brought to Morgan Hill yesterday for Thanksgiving with my husband's family which ended up being only me and the husband and his sister and his parents. So much food that I refused to leave with the potatoes and said they had to share their leftovers with the rest of the family coming over later, and I ended up tossing the nut crunch and the creamed kale. And that food waste kind of kills me as I try so hard to eat up leftovers, but I'm not used to such rich food. I've leftover shredded Brussels sprouts which I didn't dress and will become my salad for lunch with just plain walnuts and a few golden raisins and my honey mustard lemon vinaigrette. And for the next bag of kale, another creamed gratin with less cheese and more cracker topping for a healthier mac and cheese without the mac or the pasta being substituted by a vegetable that I'll cook in addition to mashed potatoes. I'm so grateful to have people to cook for. Happy Thanksgiving y'all.