Kale bacon gratin

Really, is there anything bacon, butter, garlic and rich dairy products can’t make tasty? Apparently it works for kale, at any rate.  

Baked Kale Gratin

Adapted from “Country Living” magazine, November 2014. The magazine says the recipe is inspired by spinach dip, and the flavors are reminiscent of that, only much, much richer.

Ingredients

1¾ pounds curly leaf kale, torn into chunks no bigger than 2 inches (about 7 long stems)

4 slices bacon

3 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons chopped shallots

½ cup finely chopped red pepper

3 garlic cloves, minced

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

3 tablespoons flour

2 ¾ cup half and half

1 ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1 ½ cups coarse fresh bread crumbs

2 tablespoons olive oil

Method

Steam kale for 5 to 8 minutes until wilted. Drain well.

Cook bacon in large deep skillet or saucepan until crisp. Remove and crumble into largish pieces when cool enough to handle. Keep a tablespoon of bacon fat in pan; add butter. Saute shallots, red pepper, garlic and crushed pepper until tender. Whisk in flour, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Whisk in half and half. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes until mixture thickens slightly.

Remove from heat and stir in kale, bacon and 1 cup Parmesan.

Bake in a greased 2-quart casserole for 35 to 40 minutes at 375 until golden. Let stand 5 minutes.

Rating: Yum. I probably wouldn’t serve this to the vegetable-phobes of the world, but anyone with half an ounce of food adventuresomeness is likely to go for it. This was designed to be part of a Thanksgiving menu, and that’s probably appropriate given the amount of richness involved in this dish. They allege it serves 8, but probably only if it’s part of a holiday meal where there are a lot of other dishes vying for a spot on the plate. I ate some of the leftovers for lunch as nicely filling main dish. The recipe doesn't call for salt, and it doesn't seem to need it with all that bacon.