Rainbow Chard Strata for Brunch or Lunch or A Baby Shower

Last weekend we celebrated the imminent expansion of our extended family with a Baby Shower Brunch. As you can see in the photo above, there are two new cousins coming at once, and then two more babies around the same time. For a Summer Sunday lunch, using the garden bounty this menu was a hit. Obviously you can make one or the other casserole dish, I just had a lot of veggies to use up, and a lot of guests.

MENU

Smoked Salmon, bagels, cream cheese etc.

Fresh garden greens with chopped carrots and sherry-vinaigrette

Rainbow Chard Ricotta Strata

Zucchini Brunch Gratin

Watermelon, Feta, Mint Salad

(or Watermelon Cucumber Gazpacho)

BabyCake

Sugar Cookies

Rainbow Chard-Ricotta Strata

Rainbow Chard- basically use the leaves as you would use spinach, and the stems as you would use Asparagus!

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 sweet onion
• 1/2 bunch swiss chard
• 2 1/2 cups shredded cheese
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup skim milk
• salt
• pepper

1.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.     Wash and dry swiss chard. Cut off the very ends of the stems. Roughly chop (leaving stems intact) the chard.

3.     In a saute or frying pan add onion and Chard to the oil and saute until stems are tender (do not overcook).  Salt and pepper to taste.

4.     Meanwhile, grate 2 1/2 cups of cheese. Use whatever varieties you want/have. Be creative! I used Swiss, Cheddar, and Parmesan,

5.     Whisk eggs. Add milk and cheese. Fold in the onion/chard mixture. season with salt and pepper to taste, if necessary.

6.     Pour into a pyrex rectangular baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.

7.     Bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown and no liquid seeps out when knife is inserted

Zucchini Brunch "Gratin" (serves 6-8)

·       6-8 eggs

·       1 cup ricotta cheese

·       1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

·       1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce or other hot chili sauce

·       1 teaspoon salt

·       1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

·       3 cups grated zucchini (from 2-3 fresh zucchinis)

·       1 1/2 cups chopped plum tomatoes (from 4-5 fresh tomatoes),

·       1/2 cup sliced fresh basil (from about 20 leaves)*

·       4 cups cubed day-old bread (from about 4 slices)

·       Olive oil

*Chiffonade basil by stacking a few leaves on top of each other, roll them up like a cigar, slice thin, starting at one end of the cigar and working your way down.

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. In a large bowl beat the eggs. Add the ricotta and beat until smooth. Mix in the grated Parmesan cheese, Tabasco, salt and pepper
3. Prepare the vegetables and bread.  Chop the tomatoes, and add the bread cubes, mix so bread absorbs the tomato juice.
4. Add the tomato mixture, basil, and zucchini to the egg mixture. 
5. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9x13 baking dish generously with olive oil. 
6. Pour the egg vegetable mixture into the baking pan and even it out in the pan. 
7. Place in the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F. 
8. The casserole should puff up and brown lightly. If it hasn't after 30 minutes at 350, increase the heat to 425° and cook for 5-10 minutes further. 
9. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for 10 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.