gratin di cavolo riccio e orzo / barley and kale gratin

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

When life gives you kale, make kale gratin. How do you get life to give you kale? You grow it. Based on my experience, growing kale is quite easy. I learned to let some of the plants go to seed and harvest the seeds, which I then scatter around. As a result, I have had a constant supply of kale for a while, mostly Red Russian kale, but also some dinosaur kale (cavolo nero). The only downside of this modus operandi is that you need to thin the kale seedlings, something that I find difficult to do, because I feel bad about uprooting small plants. The very first time I planted kale, I had also some Blue Curled Scotch, which is very nice. The adjective riccio in the Italian cavolo riccio means curled.

Kale handles our cool temperatures and wet conditions well, so it grows in the winter months too. And in general, kale is prolific. Once you've established a steady source of kale, the question is: what do you do with it? You make kale gratin, and you do that for three reasons: 1. because kale gratin is good; 2. because it uses a lot of kale; and 3. because since kale is good for you, a dish that uses a lot of it is a great choice.

The recipe for barley and kale gratin that I make derives from that for green barley and kale gratin in my beloved cookbook Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. You will find the original recipe reproduced on this page. Having kale from my little garden and hulless barley from my grain CSA share has steered me towards the recipe. I have made it repeatedly, in time adjusting a few elements to suit my taste and also my ingredients. What I will describe below is my current rendition. Of course you are welcome to realize the original version. This photo on flicker shows you a rendition with pearl barley. As mentioned above, I use hulless barley, and the final effect I get is different. Also, my kale turns out darker. Basically, a difficult dish to photograph, but very easy to eat.

My list of ingredients:

• 1/2 cup hulless barley (orzo nudo) [alternatively, use pearl barley, prepared as explained in the original recipe]
• 1 large bunch of kale (about 1-1/4 pounds), washed, stemmed and cut into large ribbons
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
• 1 tablespoon [sweet] white rice flour
  
• 1 1/2 cups homemade light chicken stock or vegetable broth
  
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (noce moscata)
• 1/2 cup grated Gruyère or provolone cheese (this is actually the original instruction: I use some of my homemade cheese, choosing it based on what I have available)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

One reason I like this recipe is that it is modular, meaning that I prepare the various pieces as time permits and then put them together for the final baking. In particular, I sometimes harvest and cook the kale, then store it in the fridge or freezer until I am ready to use it. The other two modules are the barley and the velouté sauce.

I prepare the barley as described in this post. I don't drain it until it is time to use it.

I cook the kale with the water clinging to its leaves for 10 minutes, covered, checking often to make sure it does not get dry (if it does, add some water).

I prepare the velouté sauce as follows: warm up the olive oil in a pan then sift the starch and flour and mix well. Cook for a couple of minutes while you heat the stock or broth. Pour the hot liquid into the pan all at once, while stirring with a whisk. Bring the sauce to a boil, then turn down the heat so that it simmers, and cook for 15 minutes or so, until nice and thick. Season with the allspice, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Note that this sauce is gluten-free and if you prepare it with vegetable broth, it is also vegan.

Heat the oven to 375 F. Spray olive oil on the bottom of a 2 qt. pyrex gratin dish (11x7x1.5"). Grate the cheese of choice. Process kale in the food processor briefly. Add a few tablespoons of the sauce and process a bit more. I like to leave a bit of texture, so I don't process the kale long. Mix all the ingredients: vegetable, sauce, cheese and barley (remember to drain the barley before adding it). Taste a bit of the kale and adjust seasoning as needed. Pour mixture into the gratin dish. Bake for 30 minutes or so (in my oven it takes 34 minutes to get a thin crust on the surface). Cut and serve immediately.

From the very beginning, my husband has nicknamed this dish "the green thing," so that is how we affectionately refer to it at home. From a nutritional standpoint, this is a fairly complete dish. And from a taste standpoint, it has a distinct flavor of greens. The barley creates a nice contrast of texture and the cheese balances the green flavor.

Note: In the post title I have switched the order of the ingredients, mentioning kale before barley.

This is my contribution to edition #277 of Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once and hosted this week by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

gratin di cavolo riccio e orzo

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gratin di cavolo riccio e orzo

Ci sono diverse varietà di kale e non tutte hanno le foglie ricce. La varietà che coltivo io qui in California si chiama Red Russian: il gambo e le venature delle foglie sono rossastre. Il cavolo nero è anch'esso una varietà di kale. Sia il cavolo riccio che il cavolo nero sono facili da coltivare. Io lascio fiorire alcune piante, raccolgo i semi e poi li spargo sul terreno. Il mio problema non è far crescere le piantine, ma sfoltirle: sto male quando devo sradicare quelle in eccesso, ma è necessario altrimenti se sono troppo vicine non crescono bene.

La ricetta per il gratin di cavolo riccio e orzo che faccio da quando ho cominciato a coltivare il cavolo riccio e quello nero nel mio orticello deriva da quella per Green barley and kale gratin nel libro di ricette Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone di Deborah Madison. La ricetta originale è riprodotta su questa pagina. Questa ricetta è di tipo modulare, nel senso che preparo le varie parti quando ho tempo e poi le assemblo alla fine. Per esempio, a volte raccolgo e cuocio il cavolo riccio e poi lo conservo in frigo o in freezer fino a quando sono pronta ad usarlo per il gratin.

Gli ingredienti che uso io:

• 100 g orzo nudo (ricetta originale: orzo perlato)
• 570 g (un grosso mazzo) di cavolo riccio (o un misto di cavolo riccio e cavolo nero)
• 30 ml olio d'oliva
• 15 ml amido di manioca (o tapioca)
• 15 ml farina di riso
• 350 ml brodo di pollo leggero (ricetta originale: latte o brodo vegetale)
• 1/4 cucchiaino di pimento macinato
• 1/8 cucchiaino di noce moscata grattugiata
• 60 g di Gruyère o provolone grattugiato (questo prevede la ricetta originale: io uso uno dei miei formaggi fatti in casa)
• sale e pepe nero macinato fresco, q.b.

Nota: un cucchiaino corrisponde a 5 ml. Dal momento che le ricette negli USA utilizzano queste misure, sono in vendita set di misurini che di solito hanno sei elementi: un cucchiaio (15 ml), mezzo cucchiaio, un cucchiaino (5ml), 1/2, 1/4 e 1/8 di cucchiaino.

Il procedimento che uso per cuocere l'orzo nudo è spiegato in questo post. Se usate l'orzo perlato, lavatelo e bollitelo fino a che non è tenero, poi scolatelo.

Lavare il cavolo riccio, rimuovere il gambo (compresa la parte più spessa spessa della costa) e tagliarlo a strisce larghe. Cuocere nell'acqua rimasta sulle foglie per 10 minuti, in una pentola coperta, controllando spesso per assicurarsi che non diventi asciutto (nel qual caso, aggiungere dell'acqua).

Preparare la salsa vellutata: scaldare l'olio in una pentola, aggiungere amido e farina setacciati e mescolare bene. Cuocere per un paio di minuti mentre si scalda il brodo o latte. Versare il liquido molto caldo nella pentola tutto insieme mentre si gira con una frusta. Portare a bollore, poi diminuire la fiamma e cuocere per 12 minuti fino a quando la salsa si è addensata. Condire con pimento, noce moscata, sale e pepe. Da notare che questa versione della salsa vellutata è priva di glutine. Se la si prepara con il brodo vegetale diventa vegana.

Scaldare il forno a 190 C. Ungere una pirofila bassa da 2 litri. Grattugiare il formaggio scelto. Frullare brevemente il cavolo riccio nel robot. Aggiungere alcuni cucchiai della salsa e frullare ancora un po'. Io preferisco non frullare fino a ridurre la verdura ad una crema. Mescolare tutti gli ingredienti: verdura, salsa, formaggio e orzo (scolare l'orzo prima di usarlo). Assaggiare un po' di cavolo riccio e, se necessario, correggere sale e pepe. Versare nella pirofila e cuocere in forno per circa 30 minuti (nel mio forno ci vogliono 34 minuti perché il gratin faccia una crosticina fine sulla superficie). Tagliare e servire.

Questo è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 277 di Weekend Herb Blogging, un evento creato da Kalyn di Kalyn's Kitchen, organizzato ora da Haalo di Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once e la cui versione italiana è organizzata da Brii di Briggis recept och ideer, che questa settimana funge anche da ospite.

Questo post contiene il riepilogo dell'evento.

Comments

[Caffettiera]

I have never had the chance to try Red Russian Kale, but ordinary curly kale is fairly common in Germany in winter months (cavolo nero is unfortunately rare). I am always overwhelmed by the huge heads sold at the market when the season peaks. Next time I see it I am going to make your gratin: I am particularly intrigued by the texture provided by the hulless barley.
My mother knows how much I love cavolo nero so whenever I go back, she always has some in her freezer to make ribollita, one of my favourite dishes ever.

[Laura]

Simona, ho cavolo che mi esce dalle orecchie! Pensavo di fare kale chips per stasera ne ho cosi' tanto. Il problema e' che sta andando in fiore e quindi da raccogliere al piu' presto. Questo piatto sembra buonissimo e molto salutare.

[Susan]

Ohhhhh...kale. Love it. Every once in while I can find dinosaur, but I've not had Red Russian yet. Maybe I can negotiate a little more space in my mother's summer veggie garden for it. : }

Wonderful recipe, Simona - so healthy and vibrant. Thank you for sharing it with WHB!

[bellini]

I have just rediscovered Kale for my soups and potato dishes. Thus sounds wonderful Simona.

[Christine]

Your kale recipe sounds very delicious and I hope to be able to sample it sometime. :)
That photo up top is splendid!

[sra]

We have many kinds of greens in India but I'm yet to come across kale, even after all the fancy vegetables we import/have learnt to grow.

[Simona Carini]

Ciao Caffettiera. I must make ribollita one of these days. Even here kale is sold in fairly big bunches, but it shrinks quite a it once cooked. To give you an idea, the amount needed for the gratin fits into a 4-cup yogurt tub.

Ciao Laura. Capisco bene che cosa vuoi dire ed e' per questo che faccio questo gratin. Kale chips sono buone. Se ne lasci fiorire un paio di piantine, poi raccogli i semi, li fai asciugare un po' e poi gettali di nuovo in terra.

Ciao Susan. Kale is quite common here and at the market usually there are at least 3 varieties. A few plants will give you a nice crop. (I also like the touch of color they provide when they flower.)

Ciao Val. Kale is quite versatile. Kale chips are also nice.

Ciao Christine. I was thinking of trying to substitute barley with some gluten-free grain and see what happens.

That is so interesting Sra. I wonder if maybe there are representatives of the same Brassica oleracea Acephala Group (collard greens belong to it also).

[Ivy]

I am not sure I have seen kale in our farmers' market but your gratin sounds delicious. You are a super woman to my eyes, making your own cheese and growing your own vegetables.

[Milen@]

Mi piace scoprire da te nuove varietà di verdure :D

[Lori Lynn]

Love the color, looks delicious and oh so healthy.
LL

[Simona Carini]

Ciao Ivy and thanks for the kind words. I practice serendipitous gardening, meaning that my little vegetable and herb garden pretty much handles itself: though my thumb is not black, it is not green either. I have to say though that I thoroughly enjoy harvesting from my little patch.

Ciao Lenny. Questa varieta' e' molto nutriente e versatile.

Ciao Lori Lynn: I guess it doesn't get greener than that, does it? It is definitely very healthy and also a pleasure to eat.