Un gratin de chou vert aux pommes de terre et lardons

As I was saying yesterday, we haven't yet had enough hot weather to discourage us from baking things like bread and gratins in a hot oven. It was hot but not unbearably so yesterday. Today is supposed to be much cooler.

Meanwhile, I had ordered and picked up some groceries that included a Savoy cabbage, called either chou pommé frisé or chou de Milan in French. It was beautiful. Pommé (from the word pomme, apple) means that it's a cabbage that forms a head, not cabbage like kale or collards, which produce loose leaves.

The gratin had been in the refrigerator overnight before I cut it so I could take this photo.

I used most of the tender white center of the cabbage to make coleslaw. Then I took the green outer leaves and the rest of the white center and cooked them in a steamer pot until they were tender. I also peeled and steamed some little waxy potatoes. And I cooked some smoked pork lardons ("bacon bits" or chunks of pork belly — they are optional) and a chopped onion in a frying pan. Here's a short slideshow made up of 10 images showing the process in chronological order.

Put a layer of the cooked potato slices in the bottom of a buttered or oiled baking dish. Chop up the cooked cabbage leaves, and mix the cooked bacon and onion with the bacon in the frying pan. Spread that mixture over the potatoes. Beat two eggs in a bowl and pour in two cups (16 fl. oz.) of milk or cream along with about half a cup (4 fl. oz) grated Parmesan cheese (or as much as you want). Season the liquid with salt, black pepper, and a small amount of grated nutmeg.

Pour the liquid mixture over the layered potato and cabbage in the baking dish. Optionally (and why not?) spread some grated Swiss or Cheddar cheese (Comté or Cantal in France) over the top before baking the gratin in a hot oven until it is heated through and browned. The result is a full meal, especially if you accompany it with a tomato or cucumber salad in vinaigrette.