Spinach and Chickpea Gratin

Thank you once more, Nigel Slater, for yet another failsafe recipe that keeps reappearing on my plate.  Nigel suggests serving this gratin by itself (hence the recipe, below, is for 4 as a main dish), but I seem to always end up serving it with fish, for some reason; either a few chunks of haddock with bacon or a couple of whole mackerels baked in the oven with some olive oil and tarragon (have you any idea how cheap a mackerel from the fish counter is?!!).  However you serve it, though, it is perfect comfort food, which is exactly why I love Nigel Slater.  

To make it, you require:

250g dried chickpeas (or a can of tinned ones)

2 tbs olive oil

4 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 tbs flour

450g spinach

250ml chicken or vegetable stock

300g creme fraiche

80-90g Parmesan, freshly grated

50g soft white breadcrumbs.

If you choose to use dried chickpeas then you'll need to get them ready for cooking by soaking them overnight in cold water.  In the morning, drain them and put them into a pan of fresh cold water and bring it to the boil, skimming off the froth that appears and then simmering for somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour - till they are soft.

Chickpeas ready, preheat the oven to 180 degrees (that's gas mark 4) and warm the oil in a roasting tin/casserole dish on a medium flame (or "blue fire", as my 2 year old nephew calls it) on the hob, adding the onion and garlic and leaving them to soften for about 15 minutes before stirring in the flour. 

Whilst your onions are getting some colour wash the spinach and steam it in a very, very large - do not underestimate the volume of fresh spinach - covered pan till the leaves have, as they say, "relaxed".  Drain it and squeeze out the moisture.

Now the exciting bit: empty the drained chickpeas, stock and creme fraiche in with the onions and garlic in the baking dish on the hob, season everything with salt and pepper and then turn up the heat, bringing it all almost to the boil.  Add the spinach, pulling it into pieces as you go, and then mix it all gently and tip it into a large roasting tin/baking dish.  Scatter the parmesan and breadcrumbs on top and bake it in the oven for 45 minutes, by which time your spinach and chickpea gratin will be crunchy on top, creamy in the middle, wonderfully warm and satisfying on a cold evening and divine as leftovers for lunch the next day.

Recipe discovered some time ago in The Observer.