Swiss Chard Flan

My father said, "that does not sound good."

That was after I mentioned that I would be making Swiss Chard Flan for dinner. To him the idea of swiss chard and flan in the same meal was completely unappetizing.

Being the horribly indecisive person that I can be, his comments through me for a loop. My whole plan for dinner was flying out the window.

Should I switch to couscous? Not pasta again. It's Meatfree Monday! What do I cook?

After a few hours of that nonsense, I came back to my original plan -- Swiss Chard Flan from Canal House Cooking Volume 1. I promise I am going to stop with all of this Canal House Cooking Volume 1 business.

Easy for me to say, because I just purchased the next three volumes! I am a very proud owner. Please go to the Canal House website, buy their books, and become a subscriber. As I've mentioned before, Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton are capturing the spirit of food, good cooking, and swell living in exactly the manner that I would like to. Their style is simple and seasonal. Their photography is gorgeous.

Go see!

The Canal House women are using the term flan loosely. My efforts did not produce a creamy custard. This particular flan is more closely related to a frittata. Certainly, there are fewer eggs and more cream here, but in no way are you getting a crème caramel with greens in it.

The shopping list is short -- olive oil, onions, garlic, swiss chard, half-and-half, heavy cream, eggs, and parmigiano-reggiano. You probably have most of that in your kitchen already. The preparation is quick. The cooking time is about an hour.

Just start early, because the idea is to eat the flan at room temperature. Needless to stay, starting to prepare this dish at 8:15 at night will likely mean you are eating your flan, hot. This is not necessarily the end of the world. It was quite tasty hot, but eating it at room temperature for lunch today was better.

You chop. You sauté. You wait.

The recipe suggests you use two bunches of chard. Oh, how I hate that kind of instruction. The size of a bunch of chard is so variable. I used one and a half bunches. It was about six cups of chopped leaves. This seemed like plenty of chard. Perhaps the dish would have been more custardy with less. I was satisfied with the egg to vegetable ratio.

One other note on the chard. Give it a spin after washing it. Just as with the Spinach Cake, you do not want a watery final product. Without spinning the greens, you will likely have a flan that is leaking puddles of liquid.

After all the sautéing, you pour the egg and cream mixture over the vegetables. The recipe gives you the option to cook the dish entirely in the oven or on the stove for twenty minutes with a quick finish under the broiler. I opted for the latter.

The parmigiano-reggiano sprinkled over the flan will turn a deeper golden brown under the broiler. I used a modest amount of the cheese -- just enough to lightly finish the dish. You don't need much. There is already a cup of half-and-half and a half cup of heavy cream here.

No need to further overdo it.

That being said, this dish does not seem at all heavy. It has quite a lot of chard in it. So while you may feel a little guilty about the cream, you do feel quite virtuous about all the greens you are eating. The chard has a wonderful sweet flavor that is nicely complemented by the salty cheese.

We ate the swiss chard flan with a bit of warm bread and a crisp green salad, dressed with olive oil, lemon, garlic and anchovy. Not bad for a Monday. Also most appreciated by myself and Fe, this Tuesday.

Swiss Chard Flan

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 bunches young chard, stems and leaves chopped separately

3 eggs

1 cup half-and-half

1/2 cup heavy cream

Salt and pepper

Grated parmigiano-reggiano

Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook for about five minutes, until tender. Add the chard stems and cook covered for 10 minutes. Add the leaves and cook covered until wilted, about 10 minutes

Beat the eggs, half-and-half, and cream in a bowl. When the chard has wilted, season it with salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the chard. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until the custard has just set, approximately 20 minutes. It may still be a bit jiggly in the center.

Preheat the broiler. Sprinkle the cheese over the top, and brown the flan under the broiler. If the handle of your skillet is not ovenproof, leave the door ajar. Serve the flan from the pan or from a platter. Serve at room temperature.

Or cook the flan in a pre-heated 375 degree oven the whole time. It will take about 45 minutes.

Serves 4-6

Spinach Cake

So far the name sounds more delicious than the final product.

Uh-oh.

The recipe is from A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes by David Tanis. I was optimistic, as I had great success with his vibrant carrot salad and delectable Indian-spiced halibut.

Although Fe would argue the point vigorously, this was sadly not quite the home run the others were. With a couple of adjustments though, this spinach cake might actually be a solid brunch or picnic dish.

Somewhere between a custard and a frittata, this cake puts to good use the extra eggs and milk in the refrigerator. Throw in about two pounds of spinach, a couple of leeks, and some seasonings and you have brunch. Or, in our case, a late night supper.

The cake is tasty and a gorgeous emerald green. Considering the recipe calls for a whole sink-full of spinach, it is not surprising how -- well -- spinachy this dish is.

I thought I had taken Tanis' advice to highly season the spinach seriously, but he is not joking around here. I felt the final product needed even more salt, pepper, cayenne, and nutmeg. The flavor was just too one-dimensional. It's spinach, period.

Next time I will add some chopped garlic to the leeks.

My only other criticism, aside from the seasoning problem, would be the issue of wateriness.

After you wash the spinach, you place it in a colander to drain. There is a lot of water on that spinach, and without spinning at least some of it dry or letting it drain in the colander for quite a while, you have a lot of moisture in your dish.

The water clinging to the leaves is important. When cooking, it steams the spinach. And Tanis wants us to reserve all of the liquid and add it to the final batter. This didn't seem like a problem until later.

After slicing, the water seeps out of the spinach cake onto the plate. I found a small puddle at the bottom of my baking dish. But it's not really a presentation issue -- the biggest problem is that the spinach cake just tastes and feels watery in the mouth.

The solution must be to spin dry at least half of the leaves or pour off some of the liquid before adding the vegetable mixture to the batter.

With those adjustments -- oh yes, and add a bit more Parmigiano! -- this really would make an excellent dish for a weekend brunch. It must be made ahead, which is actually convenient, as it needs to be served at room temperature. Undoubtedly, it presents beautifully.

A citrusy herb salad on the side as Tanis suggests and a loaf of no-knead bread would be the perfect complements.

Spinach Cake

2 bunches spinach, about 2 pounds

2 medium leeks

2 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper

nutmeg

2 cups whole milk

6 large eggs

pinch of cayenne

2 tablespoons or more grated Parmigiano

Cut the spinach into 1-inch wide ribbons (I just used baby spinach), discarding any tough stems. Wash the spinach in a large basin of water, then lift them out to a colander. Repeat until there is no sand or dirt in the water.

Trim the leeks and peel off any tough outer layers. Cut the leeks into a small dice. Rinse in a bowl of warm water until the sand and dirt has settled to the bottom. Scoop the leeks out of the water. Repeat as necessary.

Melt the butter in a deep, heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Add the leeks, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until tender, about five minutes.

Turn up the heat and scrape a little nutmeg over the leeks. Add the drained spinach in layers, sprinkling each layer with a little salt. Cover tightly, and let steam rapidly over the leeks, stirring once or twice. The water clinging to the spinach will provide enough moisture for steaming (and how!). When the spinach is just barely wilted, 2 minutes or less, turn out the contents of the pot onto a platter and let cool. Be sure to save any cooking juices that have accumulated.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. When the spinach-leek mixture is cool, taste for seasoning and adjust. It should be highly seasoned. In a blender or food processor, puree the cooked vegetables with the milk and eggs in batches, adding a little more salt and pepper, and a pinch of cayenne. Add any remaining cooking juices to one of the batches and puree again.

Pour the soupy green batter into a buttered baking dish or a 9- or 10- inch deep-dish pie pan. Grate a scant 2 tablespoons Parmigiano over the top, and bake uncovered for 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool. Cut into wedges and serve.