Thursday, July 2, 2009

Swiss chard two ways: sauteed leaves and roasted stalks

sauteed chard leavesThere's not a very interesting story behind this recipe - I came home with more chard from my CSA this week, and decided to do a simple saute of the leaves. Sometimes I'm inspired by a memory, story, or event, and sometimes I cook because I have quality ingredients and need to eat something.

Sauteed chard leaves

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, sliced thinly
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch swiss chard, stems removed and saved for another use and leaves chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add onion and cook until it's tender (about 5 min). Stir in garlic and cook for another minute. Add chard, stir to coat with oil, and let it cook until it wilts (about 5 min). Season with salt and pepper. Serves 3.

This is nothing fancy, but is a good and fast way to cook greens. After I cooked the leaves, I had to find something to do with the stalks.

roasted chard stalks with butter and parmesan, adapted from Jack Bishop's Vegetables Every DayRoasted chard stalks with butter and parmesan (adapted from "Vegetables Every Day" by Jack Bishop)

stalks from 1 bunch chard (I had 6), cut in half as needed to fit in pot
1 Tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
2 Tbsp freshly shredded parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add chard stalks, and let boil until almost tender (about 8 min). Remove stalks and place in a baking dish. Spread butter chunks and parmesan over chard and bake at 400 for 25 min. Serves 2.


weekend herb blogging
This was different, and a great way to use the part of chard that is often overlooked. Sometimes I saute chopped stalks with the leaves (adding the stalks first so that they have more time to cook), but this allowed a real appreciation for the flavor of the stalk. They have a somewhat strong flavor, but it goes very well with the butter and cheese. The only downside is that the boiling blanches out the beautiful colors of rainbow chard, so you have to remember to appreciate it before you cook it. I'm submitting this to Weekend Herb Blogging, a food blogging event that was originally created by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, and is now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once. This week it's hosted by Laurie at Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska.

4 comments:

Julia said...

I like the separate treatment of the stalks and leaves. I have a bunch in the fridge, from a friend's CSA. Will have to try this out.

Katie said...

Julia - I definitely like the contrast between the two. I originally had no intention of doing them separately until I saw a recipe for the stalks in Vegetables Every Day. Let me know what you think!

Kalyn Denny said...

Swiss chard is good no matter how yu cook it! I made that recipe with the roasted stems too, and really liked it!

Katie said...

Kalyn - I completely agree! I only recently tried swiss chard, but I've fallen in love with it.