Swiss chard is one of those pretty greens that never seem to show up much
on anyone's table. I can understand why not: the stalks are tough and fibrous when
cooked with the leaves. The leaves themselves are rather exuberant, inconveniently poking out of your vegetable baggie.
But I do love greens, and these are easy:
Rinse each leaf. Tear the leaves off of the stalks. Trim the bottom edges of the stalks, then chop, as you would celery, into little half moons. Or dice. Not to worry, either way.
Take a heavy skillet, that has a lid, and slick with olive oil. Mince a clove of garlic (or two)
and heat until the garlic is translucent. Add the Swiss chard stalks, and stir until covered in oil.
Reduce heat, cover, and cook for five-ten minutes. Chops leaves into ribbons. After the stalks have simmered add the green bits, stirring, again, to coat with oil. Salt to taste, cover and steam on low for another 5 minutes.
Your greens will be vibrantly colored, the stalks tender. Add another squirt of olive oil, if you like, a squeeze of lemon and a handful of toasted pine nuts. Or just serve as is.
Dunno bout this strategy of posting so many Green things lately 4 de purpoise of attracting your children to wanna eat more of what you cook.
ReplyDeleteOk! Thank you. I've got a whole bunch of the stuff in the backyard and have been feeding it to the rabbit.
ReplyDeleteI heard someone ask the other day, "what's chard?" I'm glad for this - I usually just sneak it into salads, soups, pasta, etc. instead of doing a dish of Swiss chard all by itself.
ReplyDeleteCO-creative sleuthing, I would say-
ReplyDeleteAH: You've got a lucky rabbit.
B: Need to try it with pasta!