southern au gratin recipe.

so last night i graduated from yoga teacher training (yay us! what an unbelievably incredible experience, but i won't go into it here) and we had a big fancy potluck at the yoga studio. i wanted to make something really awesome (read: not salad (for the record, as a vegan, i don't even really like/eat salad)) to rep the veg community, so i made this, and everybody flipped out. it was very successful. so i figured y'all might want the recipe. here it is!

  southern au gratin

1/4 cup earth balance
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 pounds collard greens (or whatever greens you wanna use), leaves and stems separated and both cut into 1-inch pieces
Pinch of pumpkin pie spice (or nutmeg/cinnamon/allspice)
2 cups full-fat coconut milk
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons flour (i like to use whole wheat pastry flour, in general)
2 pounds medium sweet potatoes (i looooove japanese sweet potatoes if you can find them), sliced super-thin (1/8 inch maybe)
Seasoning and/or fresh herbs of your choice (I'm obsessed with Bragg's Sprinkle seasoning)
Lotsa sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pack of mozzarella daiya
1/4 cup bread crumbs (optional, but delicious)

Prep greens: sautee onion in 2 tablespoons of earth balance in a wide 8-quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add chard stems, pumpkin pie spice, and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring, until vegetables are tender but not browned, about 8 minutes. Increase heat to moderately high and add chard leaves by large handfuls, stirring, until all greens are wilted. Season with salt and pepper then transfer greens to a colander to drain well and press out liquid.

Make sauce: Combine coconut milk and garlic in small saucepan; bring to simmer; keep warm. Melt two tablespoons earth balance in a medium heavy saucepan over moderate heat and stir in flour. Cook roux, whisking, one minute, then slowly whisk in warm coconut milk and boil, whisking, one minute. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

Assemble gratin: Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease deep 9×13 baking dish. Spread half of sweet potatoes in the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, herbs and daiya. Distribute half of the greens mixture, then sprinkle more salt, pepper, herbs and daiya. Pour half of bechamel sauce over the first two layers then continue with the remaining sweet potatoes, more salt, pepper, herbs and cheese and then the remaining greens, salt, pepper and herbs. Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the gratin, pressing the vegetables slightly to ensure that they are as submerged as possible. Sprinkle with daiya and bread crumbs.

Bake gratin for about 1 hour until golden + bubbly, and most of the liquid is absorbed. Let it cool before serving, or cover it in towels and shove it in a bag because you're no good with time management and you're late for your yoga potluck.


xo
m

p.s. i also made oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies (yes really), but i don't feel like i've got them quite right yet, so i'll hold off on the recipe till i feel more confident that i can fully express their magical wonder.