REC: Dark greens au gratin

It's dark winter greens time in Bodrum. This is the time of year when we
have a host of dark-colored and strongly-flavored greens quite unlike the
tender ones we get in spring. (Lots of "headless" brassicas, mostly.)

This recipe is from Alton Brown's "Field of Greens" (0821) episode, with two
small differences. I'm repeating his measurements rather than converting to
metric because tonight I just eyeballed everything, myself.

Liberally butter up a 2-2.5 quart baking dish.

Beat together 3 eggs + 10 oz ricotta + 2 oz grated parmesan + 1/2 tsp salt +
1/4 tsp black pepper

In a large pan, melt 1 tbsp butter (I used butter + olive oil) and add 2
finely minced cloves of garlic then 12 oz of sliced mushrooms and a pinch of
salt. When the mushrooms are browned add 1 lb of dark winter greens
(mustard, collard, whatever's available) and continue cooking until they're
wilted.

Let greens cool a bit then combine them into the egg and cheese mixture.

Using tongs etc move the mixture in small batches into the baking dish. (We
do it this way to avoid transferring any residual liquid into the gratin.)
Don't pack.

Now at this point Brown sprinkled over 1 cup of crushed Ritz crackers. I
used half a cup of crushed almonds.

He baked the gratin in a 375 F oven for "35-40 minutes". Because almonds can
burn, I baked the dish in 190 C oven watching it like a hawk just until I
could smell the almonds. (Unfortunately I don't remember the time but it
wasn't anywhere near 35-40 minutes.)

Remove from oven and let rest a while.

Yum.

--
Bob
http://www.kanyak.com