Kale and Brown Rice Gratin

A community recipe by Amy_Briggs

Not tested or verified by Nigella.com

Introduction

This recipe comes to me from a collection entitled "Pure Flavor: 125 Fresh All-American Recipes from the Pacific Northwest" by Kurt Beecher Dammeier. Kurt owns Beecher's Handmade Cheese, which happens to be located inside of my favorite places on the planet: The Pike Place Market in Seattle. The original version calls for a breadcrumb topping; I've omitted to keep this gluten-free.

Ingredients

Serves: 4 to 6

¾ cup short grain brown rice
2 bunches dinosaur kale (about 10 leaves per bunch)
2½ teaspoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion chopped
½ cup chicken broth
1 cup milk
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 pinch of ground nutmeg
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1¾ cups Cheddar cheese (semi-soft if available)

Method

Kale and Brown Rice Gratin is a community recipe submitted by Amy_Briggs and has not been tested by Nigella.com so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF. Butter a 20 cm/8 inch baking dish.

Cook the rice according to package instructions and set aside.

Wash the kale, strip the leaves from the stems, and cut the leaves into 1 inch strips. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the kale for 2 minutes. Drain the kale and rinse to cool, squeezing out any excess water. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 4 minutes until it begins to brown. Add the chicken broth and boil for 3 minutes until the liquid is reduced to less than ¼ cup.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in the milk along with the salt, pepper, nutmeg, rice, and kale. Remove from the heat and stir in the egg, yolk, and 1 ½ cups of the cheese, mixing thoroughly.

Spread the mixture in the baking dish and top with the reserved ¼ cup cheese. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the gratin is golden brown on top and bubbling around the edges.

Serve hot or at room temperature.