Sautéed Swiss Chard

[underused]

There are certain things we plant in the garden because they're an easy win. If the tomatoes get a fungus*, we'll still have five radishes a day. If the parsnips fall to cutworms, our beets never waver. And we can always count on Swiss chard.

Chard is brilliant for lots of reasons. It's pest resistant and doesn't mind a chilly or dry weather. If you're impatient, you can harvest it young; if you procrastinate, it still tastes good when it's mature. This year we planted a rainbow variety and it's beautiful enough to be an ornamental. It also produces multiple crops--for every leaf you pick, another comes up.

It's good to have a fast (and delicious way) to cook a lot of it quickly.

INGREDIENTS

about 10 large leaves Swiss chard (with stems)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp butter/bacon fat/oil
a lemon/lemon juice
Worcestershire or Maggi sauce
salt/pepper

Chop the chard stems into quarter- or half-inch pieces. Slice or tear the leaves into slightly larger pieces than you would for a salad.

In a sauté pan on medium-high, heat your butter, fat, or oil. Add the minced garlic and let it cook for a minute or so.

Throw in your chard stems and stir to coat with the fat. Cook for another minute or so.

Now throw in all the chard leaves and cover your pan. (It's ok if it's a bit packed in--it'll shrink very quicly.) After a minute, stir things around and put the lid back on.

Allow all to steam for 6-8 mins. Remove from heat and take off the lid. Add a splash of seasoning sauce, a squeeze or two of lemon, and salt and pepper to taste.

DONE.


*Yes, one year we lost 15 huge tomato plants to a fungus that killed them all in two days. It sucked.

Comments

[amidthestars]

This post makes me want a vegetable garden so badly! And this recipe sounds delicious. I don't think I've ever had swiss chard (at least not knowingly), but it all sounds wonderful.

And it reminds me a bit of a recipe for red cabbage salad that I love. Maybe I'll put a post together sometime...

[underused]

Haha, it's not that exciting, but I really like it. If you like the taste of raw spinach and the texture of steamed bok choy, I think you'll like this version. I bet you can get chard cheap right now--why not try some?

I would LOVE it if you posted your red cabbage salad. I like both those things!

[full_metal_ox]

My mom used to grow green Swiss chard, and I happily downed vast quantities of the stuff, most often simmered.

Astrologer/gardening writer Louise Riotte had a recipe for creamed Swiss chard that converted her neighbors who'd hitherto disdained the stuff as hog fodder; I'll pass it along when I can find the book in question (Astrological Gardening).

[underused]

Please do!

[full_metal_ox]

It's not detailed or precise enough to warrant a separate post, but here's the passage (Astrological Gardening [1989, Storey Books] by Louise Riotte, p.91):

(Riotte's mother) dug out her notebook. "Ala May," she said, "had a lovely recipe for Swiss chard, and since she had a lot in the garden and I liked it so much she cooked it often." Up to then I hadn't been growing much chard in my own garden, and my neighbor across the street spoke of it with contempt. "Oh," she had said, "we just grow that stuff for the chickens."

I asked her for the recipe (knowing I would get it anyway.) "It's really very simple," she said. "You just cook the chard and then chop it up. Next you make a cream sauce with salt and pepper and a good dash of nutmeg and mix it all together. Put it in a casserole and top it with grated cheese and breadcrumbs and bake." I tried it--and it was good.

So--a basic early-to-mid-twentieth century white American approach to making vegetables palatable.

[underused]

"a basic early-to-mid-twentieth century white American approach to making vegetables palatable" - haha, yes!

I have these great local community group recipe books and they are filled with cream-sauced, cheesed, and breadcrumbed vegetables. And always always nutmeg! Though I've never understood exactly what magical essence nutmeg adds to these things.

[full_metal_ox]

This year we planted a rainbow variety and it's beautiful enough to be an ornamental.

Indeed; your image choice of kaleidoscopic cross-sectioned chard (is that your own photograph?) reminds me of some of Kaffe Fassett's old ornamental vegetable fabric prints:

https://img1.etsystatic.com/015/0/5309281/il_570xN.455497389_m92q.jpg

http://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/9a/6d/e3/9a6de3a504f338bdbca9ff7790e5adaa.jpg

https://img1.etsystatic.com/004/1/5318021/il_570xN.371347351_tdgt.jpg

[underused]

Wow, those images are so beautiful--thank you! (You're always linking such great stuff.)

The picture is, indeed, mine. I figure if I have the thing I'm talking about in front of me, why not?