Gratin and Ham

We made a salad that we really like. We first saw it made at The Hungry Cat one night when we were eating at the raw bar. It doesn’t have a name so we call it The Hungry Cat Salad. It is a simple but delicious salad. Leafy lettuce, lemon juice. Avocado cut into pieces, sea salt, olive oil and Pecorino Cheese, grated hard boiled egg. No recipe just mix the ingredients to your taste. We usually don’t use avocado, but really liked this salad!

We made an absolutely delicious Potato and Cabbage Gratin from The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen Cookbook. We had never made this particular Gratin before. We loved it. Anything with crispy potatoes we love! This is a good one!

We served with it Sliced Ham we had purchased from The Cheese Store of Silverlake. The ham is made by Fra’ Mani it is very good.


Potato and Cabbage Gratin
The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen

In this superb southwestern French gratin, a base of silky soft leaves of green cabbage are topped with a layer of crusty potatoes plus a second super-thin layer of cheese custard. The whole is baked to a golden brown crust.

SERVES 6
2 pounds green cabbage, quartered
Salt
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter or duck fat
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 juniper berries, gently bruised
3 sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf
½ cup poultry, pork, or vegetable stock
2 ounces dry-cured ham, such as Bayonne or serrano, finely diced (1/2 cup)
1 to 1 1/4 pounds red potatoes (about 3 medium), sliced 1/4 inch thick
3/4 cup milk
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons flour
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 ounces imported Cantal, aged gouda, or Swiss Gruyere, shredded


1. About 3 hours before serving, preheat the oven to 325°F. Slip the cabbage wedges into a large >t of boiling salted water until tender but still green, about 12 minutes. Drain the cabbage and ise under cold running water. When cool enough to handle, squeeze out the excess water. Cut e cabbage into 3-inch pieces, discarding the core.

2. Meanwhile, put i tablespoon olive oil and the butter or duck fat in the center of a 10-inch -cup capacity) baking-serving dish. Add the garlic, juniper berries, thyme, and bay leaf, cover with a lid or foil, and set on the lowest oven rack. Bake for 10 minutes.


3. Add the cabbage, stock, and ham to the baking dish and stir to mix; then spread evenly in the dish, arrange the potatoes in overlapping circles over the cabbage. Cover with foil and bake for I hour.

4. Remove the foil and lightly sprinkle the remaining I teaspoon olive oil over the potatoes, raise the oven temperature to 4OO°F, transfer the dish to the upper rack, and bake for minutes, or until the potatoes are lightly browned.

5. Heat the milk in a small saucepan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole egg, egg yolk, flour, and nutmeg, Whisk in the hot milk and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the pota¬toes, sprinkle the cheese on top, and bake on the upper rack of the oven for 30 minutes, or until browned. Serve hot.