Greens Gratin with eggs and bacon

Today I discovered a new French dish called Gratin.

New you say? Well, to me, yes. I am somewhat hanging my head in shame not knowing about this sooner. I do remember having Potatoes Au Gratin as a kid, but I remember not being impressed. I was a kid, potatoes should be mashed.

Why I should like gratin? Well, basically it's the French version of a casserole. And I love the ease and simplicity of casseroles!

So today I was actually looking for a good frittata recipe when I came across this Spinach Gratin with Hard Boiled Eggs recipe and it struck my fancy. Then below that recipe I saw the Zucchini and Spinach Gratin recipe and saw that it had BACON in it and I had to try it.

I ended up with: Turnip & Beet Greens with Spinach, Zucchini, Bacon Gratin with Hard Boiled Eggs recipe.

It went something like this:

Begin hard boiling 6 eggs, let them cool.
Thaw a large amount of greens from your freezer, any combo will do. I think I ended up using about 3 lbs of frozen greens total (this was a lot even for us). Let them drain. Use fresh if you got it.

1 lb bacon chopped into about 1" sections then fried. Keep bacon grease. Add to that:
2 diced onions
 -cook to caramel perfection-
3 cloves of garlic
Generous sprinkling of dry parsley
 -cook a bit longer-
 -Move bacon out of the way around edges and to the grease add:
2T flour, fry it up then gradually add:
2c milk
 -cook slowly and let it thicken-
 -let cool a bit then add to the pan or mix in a separate bowl:
Thawed greens, mix well with the bacon sauce and add:
3 raw eggs and
1 tsp or so of pepper or to taste. I didn't add extra salt as the bacon is salty.

Spread mixture into your gratin or casserole or as I used your cast iron skillet I used to cook the bacon in.

Peel and split your eggs in half and mush them into the top of your greens. I would have used hard goat cheese beneath the eggs if I had it, but I didn't.

Over the top I sprinkled a generous layer of Parmesan cheese. You could use bread crumbs or something else that will turn golden brown while baking.

Bake @ 350 for 45 minutes or so. Then if more brown is needed put under the broiler for 2 more minutes with an extra coating of Parmesan cheese if needed.

I'll only post this recipe until after I have tasted it to be sure it's not horrid...............




When it went into the oven.





After 2 min under the broiler, it's a mess of bubbly goodness.

 So the only criticism I would give myself is that a tsp of kosher or sea salt would have made a nice addition. I added a bit to my serving and more Parmesan cheese.

But, wow, turnip and beet greens never tasted so good!

Canning bean & bacon soup with Tattler lids

My son helped me film my first ever howto video on Tuesday.


My girlfriend wants to come over so I can teach her how to can, but between our 11 kids and our crazy homeschool schedules I realized it would not happen any time soon.

This video is for her or anyone else looking for a canning tutorial. I used Tattler lids to demonstrate how to use them and I used a yummy soup recipe and included that as well. It ended up being 27 minutes long, we still have to figure out all the editing tools, but when you consider canning is an all day (or at least 1/2 day) process, I don't think 27 minutes is too bad.

Much Ado about Broccoli

Yes I grow a garden but the big secret is that I really am not a huge vegetable lover.

If I had to pick a favorite it might be broccoli, and for this reason only...it's amazing with bacon.

Really what veggie is not great with it? What food can go wrong with bacon? Well none really. But I happen to know two easy and yummy recipes that are great with broccoli and bacon.

'Tis the season for fresh broccoli and sometimes a plethora that you might not know what to do with. Blanch and freeze the extra and then use the casserole recipe below during the winter months. Make the salad today, you won't be sorry...but find some friends to share it with 'cause you have to show off to someone and besides, the leftovers aren't good.

Broccoli salad, serves 8-12 as a side dish

~ 4 cups broccoli cut into bite size pieces

1/2 cup low salt peanuts or other nuts

bacon- 8 ish pieces fried and cut or cut and fried or bacos or smoked salmon (guessing this would work fine)

1/2 cup chopped green onions or red onions or no onion

-I like to make this salad usually the day before so I don't mix any ingredients I just put them into baggies and set them in my bowl 'till it's time to eat, this gets soggy quickly-

dressing

1 cup mayo or Veginaise

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup raisins, crasins, dried apricots (or grapes cut in half but I wouldn't add those to dressing)

2 T vinegar

mix well, chill for about an hour before eating

The first ingredient listed if there are options are normally what I use but I have tried others and are just as good. I think the flavor balance is there if you try the other things.

My favorite cooked broccoli dish:

Broccoli casserole (can use cauliflower)

9x13 pan size about one layer of broccoli or cauliflower, steam veggie 'till almost done, put back into 9x13

Mix up 1 cup mayo and about 2T mustard in a bowl, spread over veggies

Grate cheese to cover

Fry bacon and cut up sprinkle on top (I have used smoked salmon, also very good flavor)

Bake @ 350 for about 20 minutes, take to potluck, your food will be gone first.