The bread I love

Buying baguettes brings me joy. Maybe it's the elegant shape, chewy texture, or delicate fragrance of the baguette that lightens my mood. Or maybe it's the baguette's potential as a hand weapon. Who knows?

Other things--like egalitarianism and pinball machines and kittens--bring me joy, But baguettes gives me a thrill so consistently, I have at least five favorite bakeries I visit for them, and often.
Within a few miles of my home, Piccadilly, Panera, Bagatelle, La Galette, and Target all offer delicious baguettes (and mocha bars and cream puffs.) On slow afternoons, I'll even make my own, using a recipe from Mireille Guiliano.

My favorite way to eat baguette slices involves marinated artichoke hearts, feta cheese, and a handful of slippery Kalamata olives. My husband's favorite way to eat the baguettes I bake is by hand, with butter, over the kitchen sink, the second they are removed from the oven. He has no interest in them once they cool to room temperature.

Despite our dexterity at stuffing our faces, neither my husband nor I finish a whole baguette in a day, and we're often left with half a wand of stale, neglected bread on the counter. It would sit there for days; my anxiety over wasting that much artisan bread increased as the bread dried.

Thanks to this recipe, I no longer have that problem. In fact, I look forward to stale bread so much that when my husband and I finish our share, I'll dice up the rest and place it in a bowl to dry. I love baking this panade in the late fall and winter, when everything outside is chilly and what I want is a cozy house and cozy food. My oven heats the house and this silky, soothing dinner warms my insides. Bread, cheese, olive oil, greens, garlic? Yes, yes, yes.

Swiss, onion, and rainbow chard panade
(adapted from Orangette, who adapted it from The Zuni Café Cookbook)

• 1 ½ lbs yellow onions, sliced thinly
  
• About ½ cup olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, slivered
• sea salt
• 1 lb rainbow Swiss chard, the thickest ribs removed, sliced into 1-inch-wide strips (plain chard is fine; I enjoy the many colors of the rainbow variety)
  
• water
  
• 10 ounces day-old chewy baguette, cut (or ripped! stress-reliever!) into rough 1-inch cubes
• 2 cups good-quality vegetable broth (I like Rapunzel cubes)
  
• About 2 loosely packed cups good-quality Swiss or Gruyere. The higher quality the cheese, the better the panade.
  

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Onions first:
Place the onions in a large saucepan, then toss with a 1/4 cup of olive oil. Do not leave your olive oil on a warm stove, as I did in the picture below. Cook onions over medium-high heat, shaking the pan often. Cook onions until the bottom layer is golden, then stir and repeat the process. Once the onions have taken a golden hue, reduce the heat and stir in garlic slices and a pinch of sea salt. Let that cook for another 20 minutes or so, until the garlic is cook and the onions have taken an amber color. They shouldn't be mushy. If the onions begin to dry out, you can cover the pan to trap moisture in. Set aside, covered, when the onions are ready.

Steam rises seductively from the chard

Now for the chard:
Next, place the chard in a large sauté pan (I used a wok), drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with water and a pinch of salt. Cook chard over medium heat until the bottom layer of leaves begins to cook; then reduce the heat, stir, and fold the leaves until they are just wilted, 2-4 minutes. You should smell a fresh, watery, green scent and the leaves should wilted, but still have a vibrant color. Remove from heat and set aside.

And the bread:
Toss the stale bread cubes with several Tbs of olive oil, plus 1/4 cup of broth, and a little more salt.

Let's make the panade:
Using an enameled cast-iron pan, flame-proof saute pan, or a sturdy casserole dish, build the panade in layers. Spread a thin layer of onions, toss in some bread cubes, a sprinkling of chard, a handful of cheese. Repeat this process until all ingredients are sandwiches together in the pan. It's OK if you have to pack down the panade. This is sort of a "we're all in this together" affair.

Bring 1 ¾ cups broth and 2 cups water to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Pour the warm liquid slowly, in doses, over the assembled panade, drizzling it down the sides of the dish. The liquid should come up nearly to the top of the layered ingredients. I always have to tweak the liquids to adjust for which pan I use and how much chard I have.

Cover the top of the dish loosely with aluminum foil, then slide it onto a baking sheet to catch any drips. Place the panade in the oven and bake it until hot and bubbling for about an hour. Remove the aluminum foil, raise the oven heat to 375 degrees, and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Let the dish cool and meld for several minutes, then serve. This recipe makes 4-5 main dish servings.

Also, this dish lends itself to leftovers easily. Either cover it in more foil and toast it up again in the oven (perhaps adding a little more broth before), or cut out a portion and heat it in the microwave. Work lunch is served.