Soft gooey gruyere cheese sauce, silky Swiss chard (or snijbiet in Dutch) and crispy gnocchi. What a great seasonal veggie dish! The great thing about this dish is that it’s super versatile. Instead of Swiss chard you can use any seasonal vegetable you can get your hands on: Kohlrabi (see notes), fennel, kale, courgette, or maybe even een combination of all of the above! You name it, you use it!
I got my Swiss chard from @plukcsafruittuin but you can find it pretty much at every market at the moment.
Recipe inspired by @foodandwine
Swiss Chard & Gnocchi Gratin
(5 votes, average: 4.80 out of 5)
Loading...Ingredients
- ± 750 g - 1 kg Swiss chard (see notes)
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 tbsp + 50 g unsalted butter, divided
- 1 package dried or fresh gnocchi
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 50 g all purpose flour
- 500 ml ml whole milk
- 1/2 cup or 60 g Gruyère cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup or 60 g Parmesan cheese or pecorino, grated
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2-3 garlic cloves, grated
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat oven to 190°C and bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Prepare the Swiss chard: finely slice the stems and slice the leaves into 2-3 cm strips. Add these all to boiling water and blanch for 1 to 2 minutes.
Drain in a colander and let cool 15 minutes. Gently squeeze over sink to remove any excess liquid. Set aside.
Add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil to the same pot and heat until the butter has melted.
Add the gnocchi and cook until golden brown and crisp, 6- 7 minutes. Season with pepper and salt, remove from the pan and set aside.
Add 50 g of butter and 1 tbsp of olive oil to the pot and cook over medium until butter melts.
Add onion, season with salt and pepper and sauté until the onion is fragrant and translucent, ± 5 minutes.
Sprinkle the flour over the onions and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly so it doesn't burn, 2 minutes.
Gradually whisk in the cold milk until smooth. Bring just to a simmer over medium-high, whisking occasionally.
Gently simmer while you continue to whisk, until mixture is thickened, ± 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the 2 cheeses, the mustard, garlic, cayenne, and nutmeg. Fold in gnocchi and the drained Swiss chard.
Taste the sauce and season with pepper and salt to your liking.
Pour the mixture evenly into a 20-30 cm oven dish and place in the oven.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbling around edges.
Change the oven setting to grill / broil and cook for 1-2 minutes until it starts to brown (keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn).
Enjoy!
Notes
Kale works well in this dish as well: slice it very finely and treat the same way as the chard. You can also do this with a mix of chard and kohlrabi for example. If using kohlrabi, make sure to peel and slice it into small pieces and blanch for 3-4 minutes to soften it.
