Thursday, March 20, 2008

Easter Morning Gratin

I adapted this recipe from my Williams-Sonoma Brunch cookbook. I replaced a good deal of the butter with olive oil, and reduced the overall fat content. If you want to reduce the fat further, you could use just the hard boiled egg whites.

It is a great thing to serve on a holiday morning (we actually had this for Christmas morning last year) since you can make it a day ahead and then pop it in the oven in the morning. If you do this, plan to double the cook time in the oven.

If you already have something planned to make for Easter morning, then save this recipe for a dinner next week. It is a fantastic way to use leftover hard boiled eggs and ham from Easter dinner.

Easter Morning Gratin

Smoked turkey/ham mixture:
1 T olive oil
1 small onion chopped fine
2 celery stalks chopped fine
2 c cubed smoked turkey or ham
¼ t dried thyme
½ t fresh ground pepper

Sauce:
2 T butter
2 T olive oil
1/3 c flour
4 c skim milk, heated warm but not to a boil (you can do this in the microwave)
½ t dried thyme
½ t dry mustard
1/4t fresh ground pepper
dash of cayenne and nutmeg


1 c shredded cheddar cheese, divided use
6-8 hard boiled eggs, peeled

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 400°F.

Make the smoked turkey mixture: In a small sauté pan over medium heat, add the olive oil and the onion and celery and sauté until soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the smoked turkey and sauté until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add the thyme and pepper. Scatter is mixture over the bottom of a gratin or shallow baking dish.


Make the sauce: In a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and add the olive oil. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Add the hot milk and whisk to prevent lumps. Return the pan to the heat and simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Add the thyme, mustard, nutmeg, cayenne and black pepper. Stir in ¾ c of the cheese and pull off the heat.


Cut the hard-cooked eggs in half lengthwise; set 6-8 halves aside. Coarsely chop the remaining halves and stir into the cheese sauce. Pour all of the sauce over the turkey mixture. Then nest the reserved egg halves, yolk sides up. Scatter the remaining ¼ c shredded cheese over the top.

Bake until the sauce is bubbling and the surface is golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. The gratin tastes great served over big slices of toast, as it is not a “thick” gratin, but one that needs some good bread to help sop it up!

2 comments:

The Mrs. said...

Yuuuuummm!!!! Posting my menu tomorrow!

Ana said...

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