Great gratin! Creamy spinach and gruyere gratin

A shower of buttery, cheesy breadcrumbs covers creamy spinach in this recipe that’s spot on for Thanksgiving. You can make the spinach mixture and the crumb mixture ahead of time and set them aside until a half an hour before dinner. Then spoon the spinach mixture into a shallow baking dish, top with the crumbs and bake. Serve it straight from the dish it’s baked in for an easy, yummy-looking presentation.

Spinach and Gruyere Gratin

• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• ¾ cup shredded Gruyere cheese
• 4 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• ¼ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Butter a shallow 6-cup baking dish.

2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 5 minutes. Add flour and salt; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add milk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook until slightly thickened. Stir in Gruyere and spinach. Transfer to prepared baking dish.

3. Melt remaining tablespoon butter in skillet over medium heat. Add panko and cook, stirring, until golden, 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Parmigiano Reggiano. Sprinkle over spinach. Bake 25 minutes. Serves 8.

— Recipe by Laraine Perri