Butternut Squash and Kale Gratin

Cole Hartfield is now Hartfield Farrier Services. He came by Monday morning with his new truck graphics — the name and phone number and a stylized horseshoe in the same color scheme as my cards, which he didn't copy without asking, he just asked if it was all right and it was. Shared visual language between related businesses is a form of professional community. The valley has room for both of us and more.

I have twelve accounts now, all of them therapeutic or complex cases that I chose specifically when restructuring the list to account for Cole taking over the straightforward work. The revenue is lower than the seventeen-account peak but the work is more concentrated. Eight hours of therapeutic farrier work generates better outcomes per hour than twelve hours of routine shoeing. The math on that is in the direction of better.

November in Montana this year has started with two weeks of clear cold, which is the best version of November — the hard cold without the heavy precipitation, the sky deep blue and the mountains visible all the way to the peaks. This light. You can see forty miles on a November clear day and everything at forty miles looks sharp and real. I love this and I know I love it and I try to spend time in it when it's happening rather than when it's gone.

Made a big pot of cassoulet this week — the Languedoc peasant dish, duck confit and white beans and sausage under a bread crumb crust. It takes two days if you do it right. I did it right. The result is something that tastes like months of preparation — the duck preserved weeks ago, the beans from the summer, the sausage from the Halverson butcher — assembled in a pot and cooked into something unified and old and deeply satisfying. November food.

The cassoulet takes two days and it’s worth every hour, but the week also called for something I could build in a single afternoon — something layered, baked under a crust, that used what November actually puts in front of you. Butternut squash from the last of the season, kale that doesn’t mind the frost, cream and good cheese assembled into a gratin that comes out of the oven smelling like the kind of meal that belongs to this specific cold and clear time of year. Same logic as the cassoulet: separate things, patient heat, one unified result.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 50 min | Total Time: 1 hr 15 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 medium butternut squash (about 2 lbs), peeled, seeded, and sliced 1/8-inch thick
1 large bunch curly kale, stems removed, leaves roughly torn
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup shredded Gruyère cheese, divided
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, divided
3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for the dish
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Preheat and prep the dish. Heat oven to 375°F. Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
Blanch the kale. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add kale and blanch for 2 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold water, and squeeze as dry as possible with a clean towel. Roughly chop and set aside.
Make the cream mixture. Combine heavy cream, milk, garlic, thyme, nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a small saucepan over medium heat. Warm, stirring occasionally, until just steaming — do not boil. Remove from heat.
Layer the gratin. Arrange half the squash slices in overlapping rows in the prepared dish. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Scatter half the kale evenly over the squash. Sprinkle with half the Gruyère and 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan. Repeat with the remaining squash, kale, and Gruyère.
Add the cream. Pour the warm cream mixture slowly and evenly over the layered vegetables, pressing down gently so the layers settle.
Make the topping. Combine panko with the remaining Parmesan and scatter evenly over the top. Dot with the small pieces of butter.
Bake covered. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until the squash begins to soften and the cream is bubbling at the edges.
Uncover and finish. Remove foil and bake an additional 18—20 minutes, until the top is deep golden brown and the squash is fully tender when pierced with a knife.
Rest before serving. Let the gratin stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before cutting and serving. This allows the cream to set and the layers to hold.

Nutrition (per serving)

Butternut Squash and Kale Gratin — November Food That Holds Its Shape