Potato Leek and Chard Gratin
with Taleggio

RECIPE

Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish.

Note from the cookbook: This dish is made to serve with braised meats. A fatty, meltingly tender short rib stacked alongside is especially appealing to me, but a stew of vegetables or beans and greens would also be a great accompaniment. The preparation is a bit lengthy, but you can assemble the gratin a day ahead of cooking. Any variety of chard will do, although the red-veined will tint the dish pink. Taleggio cheese has a beautiful, ripe, funguslike aroma that gives this dish great character.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil

• 1 bunch Swiss chard, stemmed and deveined

• 2 large leeks (white and light green parts only), sliced 1/4 in [6 mm] thick

• Kosher salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 3 lb [1.4 kg] Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled,sliced 1/8 in [3 mm] thick

• 1 1/2 cups [360 ml] heavy cream (only or it is too soupy)

• 3 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves

• 1 1/3 cups [120 g] freshly grated Parmesan cheese

• 10 oz [225 g] Taleggio cheese, cut into 1/2-in [12-mm] chunks (I used gruyere)

• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

• 1/4 cup [30 g] fresh bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°F [190°C]. Butter a 5-qt [4.7-L] baking dish, 2 in [5 cm] deep.

In a large cast-iron frying pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add the chard and cook until the leaves are pliable, about 5 minutes. Remove the chard from the pan and set aside to cool. Add the leeks to the hot pan and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Let cool, and season with salt and pepper. Roughly chop the cooled chard.

Arrange a third of the potato slices on the bottom of the prepared baking dish, overlapping them slightly. Pour in a third of the cream to cover the potatoes, and sprinkle with a third of the leeks, a third of the thyme, and a fourth of the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Dot with a fourth of the Taleggio and a fourth of the butter, followed by a third of the chard. You will be repeating the layers two more times. Don’t forget to season each layer as you go; potatoes can handle a decent amount of salt, so don’t be shy.

Press down with your hands on the surface of every layer to make the ingredients lay flat and to get a sense of how much cream you’ll need. You want just enough so that the entire mass is well moistened and decadent, but not enough so the gratin is a soupy mess. Finish layering by topping the chard with the remaining fourth of Parmesan, Taleggio, and butter. (If baking the next day, cover and refrigerate.) Top with the bread crumbs.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake until the potatoes are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, about 1 hour. (My potato slices were a little thick so I cooked it for 90 minutes.) Increase the oven temperature to 425°F [220°C]. Remove the foil, and bake until bubbling and browned, about 15 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes to set. Serve warm.