This week’s recipe is the perfect cosy Sunday meal. Buttery leeks, fresh kale, creamy butterbeans and a silky sauce all lie below a crunchy nut and garlic topping that you’ll quickly want to top absolutely everything with.
You can serve it on its own with some crusty bread for dunking, or as part of a Sunday spread with roast potatoes, greens and Yorkshire puds. It also makes great leftovers, so if you’re cooking for one you can keep the other three portions in the fridge for a cosy weekday lunch.
Butterbean, leek and kale gratin
Serves four (or one with three leftover portions)
2 leeks
25g unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp plain flour
400ml whole milk
150ml double cream
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
50g parmesan
2 x 400g tins of butterbeans
80g kale
75g walnuts
25g pine nuts
3-5 sprigs of fresh thyme
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (160 fan). Top and tail the leeks, then half and finely slice. Place a large oven-safe pan over a low heat and add the butter. Once melted, add the leeks with a pinch of salt. Cook the leeks in the butter and salt for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding splashes of water if they start looking brown.
Peel and finely slice one of the garlic cloves and add to the pan. Fry for a minute or so, then sprinkle over the flour. Stir to coat the leeks and cook through for a minute, then gradually add the milk, stirring the mixture all the while. Add the cream, nutmeg, half the parmesan and plenty of salt and pepper. Stir to combine and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the butterbeans and kale and turn off the heat.
Roughly chop the nuts and add to a small bowl. Finely mince the garlic and add to the bowl with the leaves from the fresh thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Sprinkle the rest of the parmesan over the creamy bean, leek and kale mix, then the nut topping.
Bake for 25 minutes until the topping is golden and the mixture underneath is bubbling
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The perfect way to share this dish is as part of a big Sunday dinner. We’re talking roast potatoes, buttery greens and a vat of red wine.
Roast potatoes
Everyone’s got their preferred way of making roasties, so I’ll leave the exact recipe up to you. However, here are some of my favourite things to do to ensure super crispy roast potatoes: par boil, leave to steam with a tea towel for at least 2 minutes, fluff up, add a little flour, and make sure the oil is piping hot.
Buttery greens
Keep things simple by boiling some seasonal greens, seasoning with salt and pepper and adding a little pat of butter for glossiness.
Yorkshire puddings
This BBC Good Food recipe is completely failsafe for me, but my top tips would be to make sure the oil is piping hot before pouring in the batter, and let the batter sit for at least half an hour before pouring into the tin.