I've been exploring the Internet again in search of good simple recipes for perennial vegetables and I've found a recipe for Sorrel and Potato Gratin from Martha Stewart's website. The recipe uses 3 cups of sorrel like the Goat's Cheese and Sorrel Tart recipe I discovered last July.
Sorrel and Potato Gratin
I didn't actually know who Martha Stewart was, although the name was very familiar. Now I know she's an American wonder woman who seems to have discovered the secret of youth.
I'm not sure that this recipe is part of her secret as it contains 300ml of heavy cream. In fat content 'heavy cream' in America is most like whipping cream in the UK - but I assumed it was like double cream so my version was even richer! It was very delicious but I expect making it with lower fat substitutes like yoghurt or silken tofu would work well too.
I didn't have any shallots so I used onions instead. I think I actually do have shallots growing on the allotment - they are an ideal perennial vegetable (see here) - but I've forgotten quite where I've planted them! Go to the recipe link for exact quantities but here's my cooking-by-pictures recipe to show you how quick and easy it was.
1. Butter the dish.
2. Add the onions.
3. Then the sorrel.
4. A layer of new potatoes.
Season. Repeat 3 and 4.
5. Add the cream. Cover and
bake for an hour at 350°F.
6. Bake uncovered for further 20 minutes until nicely browned.
I couldn't harvest quite enough sorrel from my two non-flowering sorrel plants for this recipe and so gathered some from the flowering version. But that was only because I'd picked heavily last weekend when I'd made the goat's cheese tart again. I really recommend the non-flowering form of garden sorrel. The regular one is already throwing up flower stalks but this one will stay all season as a low mound of glossy, succulent, quickly-replenished, lemony leaves.
N.B. I sell a range of perennial vegetable plants on my website.
