Once again, this is another delicious side dish that comes directly from Gjelina’s cookbook (can you tell what new book we just got for Christmas?). It takes some patience, prep work, and cook time but it is really, really worth it.
For 2-4 people you’ll need about 4-5 medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes (sliced about 1/8″ thick), 1 head of kale (we used black kale, de-stemmed and roughly chopped), x2 leeks (chopped well), 1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup grated parmesan, 1 cup grated gruyere, 1/2 cup fresh thyme leaves, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, a little olive oil, salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Add some olive oil to a skillet and heat over a medium heat. Add chopped leeks and cook until soft – about 5 mins. Remove from pan and set aside. Add chopped kale to the same pan, adding more oil if you need it. Cook quickly, stirring well, until leaves are soft – about 3 mins. Remove from pan and set aside.
Rub the bottom and sides of an oven proof, deep sided, medium sized cooking dish (about 9″ x 5″ or so will do fine) with olive oil. Place a single (slightly over-lapped) layer of potato slices on the bottom. Then add about 2 Tbsp heavy cream to just cover the potato layer, don’t overdo the cream. Add a layer of about 1/3 of the leeks (there will be two more layers at least), a layer of about 1/3 of of the parmesan cheese, about a tsp of fresh thyme, a layer of 1/3 of the kale, a layer of 1/4 of the gruyere, salt and pepper, and then another layer of the potato slices. Press down gently all around and repeat the whole process, two more times to make three complete layers with a single layer of potato slices on top.
Evenly spread the bread crumbs over the entire top along with a little bit of the fresh thyme and the remaining gruyere.
Loosely cover with foil and place into the oven – cooking until a fork and easily be poked through the entire structure, about 1 hour. Increase the oven heat to 425, remove the foil and let bake another 15 mins uncovered until brown and bubbly.
Love this one.
Dinner at Our Place 