There are times when we find a recipe and follow it and times when we buy the same-old-same-old ingredients and prepare what we’ve done in the past. But one of the challenges and joys of cooking every day is those meals when you have no idea what you’re going to prepare so you look in the fridge or the garden and go from there. This dish was one of those what-have-I-got-on-hand-and-how-quickly-can-it-become-delicious? type meals.
Here’s what I had on hand: potatoes and kale from the garden. (We picked the kale last night!) Crème fraîche, part-skim ricotta, and a log of goat cheese left from our New Year’s cooking, and two scallions.
I sliced the potatoes thinly and arranged a layer in a buttered oven proof bowl. Next I put on a layer of ricotta cheese and some pepper.
I sliced the Tuscan kale into ribbons and put a layer on top of the first ingredients.
Next I followed with another layer of potatoes topped by Crème fraîche, some of the goat cheese, and some ricotta and scallion. I repeated these layers, potato/kale/cheese/scallions again.
The top layer was potato slices, with some olive oil drizzled over the top and some paprika sprinkled on for color. I put a top on this dish and baked it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, removed the cover and baked it for 15 more minutes.
This wasn’t a heavy dish – if you like a richer, creamy potato casserole you should pour heavy cream over the top before baking. But we like lighter food and with this combination you could really taste the kale, potatoes and cheeses separately as well as their combined flavors. I’m sure it will be even more wonderful when we have it for lunch tomorrow.
