A good side dish is always welcome on a dinner table. Sometimes it as simple as sautéed green beans. But I am trying to incorporate unusual combinations in our diet. Everyone loves corn, but how many people love swiss chard? In an effort to include it, I made this corn gratin that has all of the friendly flavors of corn with the brightness of healthy chard and nutrient rich red peppers. For more on healthy eating, read this new post about Budpop supplements.
We decided to have this with our Chicken instead of potatoes. A salad rounded out the meal. Three days to go on the diet marathon. David is looking forward to enjoying the 4th of July with family without restrictions. View some of our previous family get togethers.
Needless to say, he will not be sticking to a diet. We always have a blind wine tasting that involves many wine choices. (By the way, the plastic bottles on the right are for the kids juice tasting). So many funny pictures.
I don’t think any of the adults had this reaction to the fine wines that we were tasting. Maybe this year we should give the kids better choices.
But this was a very good choice for dinner tonight. Hope you give it a try. Would look pretty on your holiday table.
Happy 4th of July. Will see you next week. Enjoy!
CHARD AND SWEET CORN GRATIN ( The New York Times )
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 generous bunch (3/4 to 1 pound) Swiss or rainbow chard, stemmed and washed
- Salt
1/2 red bell pepper, diced - 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- Black pepper
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 2 to 3 ounces Gruyère, grated (1/2 to 3/4 cup), to taste
- Kernels from 2 cooked ears sweet corn (1 1/2 to 2 cups)
- 1 ounce Parmesan, grated (1/4 cup)
- Heat oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 2-quart baking dish or gratin.
- Blanch chard: Bring a large pot of water to a boil while you stem and wash the chard leaves. When the water comes to a boil, salt generously and add chard leaves. (Set aside stems for another use, or discard.) Blanch 1 to 2 minutes, until tender but still bright. Transfer to a bowl of cold water, then drain thoroughly and squeeze out excess water; chop medium-fine.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet and add red pepper . Cook, stirring, until pepper is soft. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds to a minute, then stir in rosemary, thyme and chopped blanched chard. Season with salt and pepper and stir over medium heat until chard is nicely coated with oil, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
- In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir in chard mixture and Gruyère. Stir in corn and mix well. Scrape into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle Parmesan over top and drizzle with remaining olive oil.
- Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until nicely browned on the top and sides. Allow to sit for at least 10 minutes before serving.
This looks yummy, Penny. Glad to hear that David won’t have any diet restrictions for our family get together. I rather enjoy seeing the kids faces when they have some inetersting juice testing choices! See you soon.
No way he could diet around this group. LOL. Do you want me to get the juices for the kids? Know you will have little time.
Hi Penny,
If you could get the juices, that would be great. We hope to be able to stop at a roadside stand for some produce along the way. I wish I had my own tomatoes to bring, but it’s too early. Getting excited about seeing you guys!
I love the idea of chard and red pepper. How much red pepper?
You have a lovely family and the lake seem created for the 4th.
I forgot to put that in the recipe. Will update it. It was 1/2 of a red pepper diced. I sautéed it in the 1 tablespoon of oil before adding garlic. Thanks for noticing Madonna.
Looks good..I love red peppers so much..I have been grilling mixed vegetables too to get more veggies in..Happy 4th and congrats on the weight loss!
We love grilled vegies Monique. A good way to clean out the vegie drawer in the fridge. I am trying to make room for food for a crowd.
I love swiss chard. This recipe sounds great. Have a wonderful 4th weekend with your family.
Thanks Penny. Hope you have a great 4th. Your house is looking great!
I love corn ‘off the cob’ as it’s so much easier to eat and tastes just as good when done with fresh kernels. Love the chard in this recipe and will try it soon! Great pics 🙂
This was awesome! Thank you!
This looks wonderful. I have made a similar gratin with Swiss chard and zucchini from Martha Rose Shulman’s wonderful book, Provincal Light. I will try this one before summer corn is gone.
But, like so many recipes using Swiss chard this recipe begins with two instructions that bewilder me. First is discarding the stems, and the second is blanching the leaves. The stems can be chopped and sautéed until tender. Many Swiss chard recipes have some kind of sautéed vegetables anyway—onions, garlic, red pepper, etc.— so it’s no big deal. Then the leaves can simply be chopped and added to the sautéed veggies until they wilt and get as tender as desired—no extra pot, no wringing out the water, and best of all, the nutrients stay in your dish.