Grateful For Gratins
Two Simple Gratins to Up Your Winter Vegetable Game
Sometimes you rediscover an old childhood favorite completely by accident. Recently, I was sitting in my office, surrounded by hundreds of old French cookbooks, thinking about what I was going to cook when one book beckoned me over.
It had been a while since I last read Anne Willan’s ‘The Country Cooking of France’. As I flipped through the pages, it felt like I was looking through a cherished family album of childhood dishes. I stopped on one, her version of the French family classic, endive and ham gratin. It evoked vivid memories of my own mother making this dish for me as a small child.
Endive and ham gratin is the macaroni and cheese of France. I found myself licking my lips and instantly decided to make this creamy gratin for my son just like my mom did, with just a bit too much sauce and crispy cheese crusted on the sides. At first, Beau was skeptical and only tried one tiny courtesy bite. I left the table and returned to watch him trying to sneak more bites out of the gratin dish, especially the crispy, melted cheese parts that I used to love. Life has gone full circle.
Click here to see a video of the Belgian Endive and Ham Gratin being made.
