Swiss Chard Potato Casserole

We got a LOT of greens in our CSA this week. We received more beets, so I had two weeks worth of beet greens to use. The beets themselves are going to become refrigerator pickled beets, which I love having on my breakfast salad. We also received Swiss chard, kale, broccoli, fresh spices (tarragon, savory, and dill), and a salad mix of leafies.

I was in the mood for something creamy (again), so I decided to use the beet greens and chard in a potato casserole. We have a bag of small russets I need to finish up, so that was part of the inspiration. These spuds are very tasty Idaho potatoes, which are harder to get here in North Idaho than you would think. The majority of the potatoes in our grocery stores are from Washington!

I threw this meal together on-the-fly as usual, so the amounts are approximate. Your amounts could be substantially different and it would still come out well, I'm sure. A formalized version of this recipe will probably end up in our forthcoming Vegan Comfort Foods book.

Ingredients

• 2-3 Cups White sauce (follow the first 4 steps of the Creamy Yellow Tarragon Sauce).
• 6 Small - Russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds (you could easily use more spuds than I did -- there was lots of room in the baking dish).
• 1 Tbsp - Fresh tarragon, chopped
• 1 1/2 Tsp - Fresh summer savory, chopped
• 1/2 Tsp - Black pepper
• 1 Tsp - Garlic granules or powder
• 1 Tsp - Sea salt
• 1 Bunch - Swiss chard, stems removed
• 2 Bunches - Beet greens, stems removed
• 1/2 Cup - Water
• 1/2 Cup - Grated cheese (or cheese substitute)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375.
• Prep the potatoes and layer them into a steamer. Steam for 15 minutes.
• While spuds are steaming, prep the greens and make the white sauce.
• Stir the spices into the sauce and set aside.
• When the potatoes are done, run some cold water over the slices to make them easier to handle.
• Spray oil into a 9x13 baking dish.
• Layer half of the greens into the baking dish, overlapping the leaves to completely cover the bottom. They will stick up quite a bit, but don't worry about that. The hot spud slices will wilt them somewhat, and baking will knock them down to a thin layer.
• Layer half of the spud slices over the greens.
• Pour half of the white sauce over the potatoes and spread around evenly with the back of a big spoon.
• Repeat the process with a layer of greens, spuds, and sauce.
• Pour the water over the top of the final layer so the ingredients will bake together more evenly.
• Sprinkle grated cheese over the top.
• Bake uncovered for 35 minutes.

I intended to grate a couple of carrots and sprinkle them between the greens and potatoes, but in the heat of the moment, I forgot to grate the carrots. If I were to do this dish over again, I'd chop and saute an onion with some fresh garlic and add that to the white sauce. I'd also either saute the carrots with the onions or sprinkle them onto the greens as I originally planned.

Enjoy!