Sweet potato and kale gratin

Gratins are delicious, they are everything good about cheese and french fries all mixed together. Plus, this one is even better because you get the lie to yourself and pretend that its healthy because it has kale in it. And so yeah, I count this as a vegetable. Didn't I mention my wide definition of vegetables earlier?

The real recipe calls for Swiss Chard (which the world's worst safeway, aka my local grocer, didn't have) and can be found here. When Deb made it, it came out thick, and gooey, and wet, and looking cheesy and delicious. I however, didn't have as much cheese, and my first ever attempt at bechamel sauce, while delish, got a little thick, and didn't pour easily, a major flaw in technique, but not really in flavor I don't think.

As a result of the lack of liquid-y agents (cheese and sauce), mine came out alot more like layered roasted potatoes with a kale-cheese sauce, than a true gratin. Still good though, and the recipe makes enough that we had leftovers for a solid four days. My one comment on the recipe would be that filling the pan up all the way is OK, even though the recipe seemed to indicate that there were moisture worries. Not covering mine let it dry out almost too much, and it shrank up a bit. So, especially if you are going light on sauce or cheese, cover it.

Also, I took half of it to a pot luck. And yeah, I got to be THAT person at a pot luck in school. I was the one who showed up with real fancy food, and got to think judgy thoughts about the other people's food. Most of it was good, but it was a lot of cheese dip, salsa, baked goods (and one round of delicious chocolate toffee crack stuff, SOO GOOD). And then I had hand made gratin. I won, in the ego-off that was happening inside my head.