BLOG.Notes from the Field

Our gift to you this Thanksgiving is this recipe for a potato, leek, and chard gratin with Taleggio cheese. Both rich and humble, it’s a satisfying side dish for a late fall feast! However you spend it, we wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings. There is so much to be thankful for.

Potato, Leek, and Chard Gratin with Taleggio
Serves 4-6 as a side dish

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 bunch Swiss chard, stemmed and deveined
2 large leeks (white and light green parts only), sliced ¼ in thick
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 lb Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and, sliced ⅛” thick
1 ½ cups heavy cream
3 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 ⅓ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
10 oz. Taleggio cheese, cut into ½-in chunks
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
¼ cup fresh breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 5-qt baking dish, 2in 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 to taste 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 that 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. Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees F. 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.

Recipe adapted from Gjelina: Cooking from Venice, California by Travis Lett and Michael Graydon.