Winter Greens and Leek Gratin or Giddy in the Produce Section

As I was saying in my last post, a couple weeks ago I got a little giddy in the produce section.  It was GRAND!  Then, I forgot about half the plans I had, and realized that I had 1/2 bunch of Chard, a full (completely forgotten) bunch of Collard Greens... and a few leftover leeks in the fridge. Beautiful, fresh produce that I didn't want to freeze (there's quite enough of that going on outside, thankyou) so it needed to be used up right away.  I decided to use ALL of it in a recipe I modified from Alice Waters's Swiss Chard Gratin .
Turned out amazing and it's the best way I've found yet to use up cooking (winter) greens.

Winter Green and Leek Gratin

1/2 bunch Swiss Chard chopped (stalks chopped and set aside)

1 bunch Collard Greens destemmed and chopped

2 leeks rinsed and cut into circles (white part only)

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (I keep bread in the freezer for this)

2 tablespoons Earth Balance Margarine (or olive oil w/ salt to taste)

2 teaspoons flour (grain of choice)
1/2 cup Soymilk

a pinch of ground nutmeg

Seasalt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

Wash and stem the chard and Collards. Save the chard stems, chopping them into small pieces.  Bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil and cook the stems and collards for 3-5 minutes. Add the chard leaves and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain and cool. Gently squeeze out the excess liquid from the stems and leaves and coarsely chop them. 

Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons of margarine over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed pan and add the chopped leeks. Cook over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the greens and season with salt. Cook for 3 minutes. Sprinkle with the flour and stir well. Then add the soymilk and nutmeg and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more soymilk if the mixture gets too thick. The greens should be moist but not floating in liquid. Taste and add salt if needed. 

Preheat oven to 350f.  

Butter (with margarine or grease with oil) a small baking dish. Spread the chard mixture evenly in the dish. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly over the top. *  I added Daiya Cheddar shreds in this picture, but found that it wasn't a necessary addition*  

Bake in oven until the gratin is golden and bubbling, 20 to 30 minutes.

Serve and enjoy.  We had ours with Ham!