To Tackle the Glut of Seasonal Greens, Reach for the Cream (and Cheese) (and Butter)

My firstCSA pickup of the seasonwent exactly as expected: it was leafy, and hardy, and very, very green.

There was chard (two bunches!), arugula, romaine, green onion, radishes (with the greens attached), and, of course, kale. All in all there were enough greens to feed ten people. But there are only two people in my household, and on this day I was preparing to leave town for a week.

Luckily, I'd been waiting for this moment. At the very beginning of spring—and the onset oframp madness—I was thinking a lot about how to take advantage of the annual onslaught of leafy greens. And I'd come up with a few answers.

The first answer wascream. The second answer wascheese.

More specifically, my answer is thisSpring Greens and Leek Gratin, a recipe I developed with the specific task of taking down a pile of greens in mind. You'd never know it to look at it, but this unimposing gratin packs in two large leeks, two large bunches of arugula, one bunch of ramps, and one bunch of adult spinach.

When all those greens are prepped and laid out on the countertop, the sheer volume is comical. They spill out of eventhe biggest bowl.

When in doubt: dairy.

Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Simon Andrews

But it's nothing a gratin can't handle. First the leeks and ramps go into a hot skillet, where they sizzle (and begin to melt) in butter. Next up: the greens, which should be a little wet still from washing—the water clinging to the leaves will steam the greens, helping them wilt. And theydoall wilt, so much that you may actually start to wonder if you haveenoughgreens. (Note: You do. You definitely do.)

You could eat the greens just like that: buttery greens with melted leeks and ramps. Why not? But I wanted to tame the bite of the arugula and ramps, and I love the way that dairy can turn even the hardiest vegetables into silk. So I added cream, threw in some parm, topped the whole thing with fat croutons, and let it all cook together in oven.

I admit that when I developed this recipe, the ramps were a major factor—I wanted to find ways to use them while they were here. But this recipe does just fine without ramps. If you can't find them, use garlic or green onion instead. And feel free to sub in any type of greens. I like the punch of peppery arugula, but chard and spinach make lovely, softer gratins. This is also the opportunity to use up some of the more random greens in your fridge—the radish greens, or beet greens, or, heck, even those carrot tops. Just chop them up and throw them in—they'll melt into the rest of the veg.

And though all that hot dairy may screamwinterto you, I promise you that it's a great recipe for summer. For one thing, it's when all these greens are in season. And while in winter a gratin is a side dish, in summer it's the main event. I'll even go so far as to call it a "light supper." Yeah, there's cream and cheese—but did you see all those greens that went into this thing?