My father recently celebrated his 82nd birthday. In our family, we aren’t big on presents or cards, instead we honor the occasion with a dinner and family gathering. For dad’s birthday, we prepared a wonderful Provencal fish soup (recipe to come later) and this spinach gratin with hard boiled eggs dotting the surface. Certain foods I associate with my dad, beets for example, or sauerkraut, and then of course spinach. When we were kids, we always had cans in the pantry (Popeye!). Later, he turned to fresh spinach from the farmers market. Because of my father, we are a family of spinach lovers. This gratin is a popular side dish served in the south of France. I would never have thought to add hard boiled eggs to spinach, but it’s a fabulous combination. The gratin is made with lots of spinach, either fresh and blanched or frozen and drained, mixed in with a simple white béchamel sauce seasoned with nutmeg and black pepper. Halves of hard boiled eggs dot the surface, and the whole thing is sprinkled with grated gruyere cheese and seasoned breadcrumbs. This gratin would make an excellent side for an Easter dinner, and you can easily make it a day ahead and heat before serving. Enjoy!

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