Spinach gratin made from chopped, blanched spinach mixed with nutmeg béchamel, with hard-boiled eggs and Gruyere cheese. Gratin d’Epinard aux oeufs.
My father recently celebrated his 82nd birthday. In our family, we don’t place much value on gifts or cards, instead we honor the occasion with dinner and a family reunion.
One of the things we made for dad’s birthday was this spinach gratin with hard-boiled eggs on top.
This gratin is a popular side dish in southern France. It would never have occurred to me to flavor spinach with hard boiled eggs, but it’s a fabulous combination.
The gratin consists of lots of spinach, either fresh and blanched or frozen and drained, mixed with a simple white béchamel sauce seasoned with nutmeg and black pepper.
Halves of hard-boiled eggs lie on top and the whole thing is sprinkled with grated Gruyère cheese and seasoned breadcrumbs.
This gratin would make an excellent side dish for Easter dinner, and you can easily make it a day ahead and reheat it before serving. Enjoy!
Spinach gratin with hard boiled eggs
If you like, you can also sauté some chopped onion and/or a persillade of chopped garlic and parsley to mix with the cooked spinach and béchamel. In any case. Without these flavorings, a cleaner spinach flavor will emerge.
* To hard boil eggs, place eggs in a 2 quart saucepan and cover with at least 1 inch of cold water. Bring the water to a boil, remove the pot from the heat and cover. Cover and let rest for 10-12 minutes. Then run under cold water to prevent overcooking. Crack open the shells while the eggs are still under water and let them cool for a while before shelling.
**To make your own breadcrumbs, take a few slices of bread from the day before and toast in either a toaster or oven until golden, then grind in a food processor or blender until crumbs form. Stir in a little Herbes de Provence or Italian seasonings and some salt to taste.
ingredients
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3 lb fresh spinachcleaned (or 24 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and drained)
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2 cups milk
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2 tablespoon butter
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2 tablespoon flour
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1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmegor 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg if not starting with a whole nutmeg
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1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper, or more to taste
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1/4 Cup grated Gruyere cheese (about 1 ounce)
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6 hard boiled eggs*
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3 to 4 tablespoon seasoned breadcrumbs**
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Extra virgin olive oil
method
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If you’re working with fresh spinach, blanch the spinach in boiling water for 1 minute, drain and run cold water over it to cool. Squeeze as much water out of the spinach as possible. (A good way to do this is to place the drained spinach in the center of a large, clean tea towel, wrap the towel around it, and wring out the moisture by wringing the towel.) Chop the spinach. Pour into a large bowl. Season with salt and set aside while you prepare the béchamel.
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Heat milk in a medium saucepan until steaming, set aside. In a separate saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Sprinkle in the flour and beat the mixture until smooth, about a minute or two. Remove from stove. Slowly pour in the hot milk, stirring all the time so that the mixture does not form lumps. Continue beating until there are no more lumps. Reheat the pan and bring to a simmer, continuing to beat so the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. The béchamel sauce will thicken as it cooks. Sprinkle in the ground nutmeg and black pepper.
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Stir the thickened béchamel sauce into the bowl of spinach.
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Grease the inside of a 2 liter gratin pan or casserole dish with a little butter all over. Place the spinach and béchamel mixture in a gratin dish and smooth the surface. Sprinkle the surface with the grated Gruyere cheese. Halve the hard-boiled eggs and arrange cut-side up on top of spinach mixture. Press into the spinach mixture so the cut surface of the eggs is level with the spinach. Sprinkle with 3 to 4 tablespoons of seasoned breadcrumbs. Drizzle with about a tablespoon of olive oil. At this point, you can make the gratin a day ahead and refrigerate until ready to serve.
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Bake uncovered in a 375°F oven for 25-30 minutes until nicely browned.
Links:
Spinach and rice gratin by Heidi from 101 cookbooks
Artichoke Heart Spinach Gratin by Molly Katzen at Leite’s Culinaria
Creamed Spinach Gratin from Ezra Pound Cake
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 201 | calories |
| 12g | Fat |
| 13g | carbohydrates |
| 13g | protein |
