What to do w/ Swiss Chard

[mcdowell]

Ok, so we overplanted. I've never grown chard before and had no idea how it would just keep coming and coming and coming... and it doesn't look like an end's in sight.

I've steamed it, stewed it, braised it, and even rolled it into enchiladas with mushrooms (very yummy).

What do you do with Swiss Chard? Need some ideas, desperately, before we're forced to just open a swiss chard stand at the farmer's market.

Edited August 13, 2003 by mcdowell (log)

[rickster]

Steam, dry in a towel, chop and add to ricotta for a filling in homemade ravioli or manicotti.

or use as a filling in a Provencal swiss chard tart.

Edited August 13, 2003 by rickster (log)

[slkinsey]

Blanch it in salted boiling water for a minute or two. Shock in cold salted water. Squeeze out the excess moisture and roughly chop it together with a lot of fresh mint. Saute in evoo with thin slivers of garlic, adding a generous amount of crushed red pepper just at the end. Serve with grilled meat, fish or poultry of any kind.

[Jinmyo]

Remove leaves from stem.

Cut stems into equal lengths, season, EVOO and balsmico, roast for twenty minutes at 350 in a convection oven. Add lardons if you have them.

Blanch and shock leaves, saute with much butter, finish with cream.

Or mince and add to a soup made with mire poix, chicken stock, white wine, chorizo.

Or...

[slkinsey]

...saute with much butter, finish with cream...

That's cheating! Isn't this good advice for how to cook just about anything?

[Jinmyo]

...saute with much butter, finish with cream...

That's cheating! Isn't this good advice for how to cook just about anything?

Not miso shiru.

Which chard is also very nice in.

[Adam Balic]

Gratinee the stems.

Make a mussel and swiss chard gratin (recipe from the south of france).

Many italian recipe using Spinach can use SC (they originally used SC and related strains of beet greens anyway).

Make a squid and swiss chard stew.

Wilt swiss chard greens, add to mashed potato with a clove of crushed garlic add large amounts of olive oil and mix.

Stuff leaves with meat and stew cook in tomato sauce.

[hjshorter]

Make a squid and swiss chard stew.

Sounds delicious. Recipe?

[Adam Balic]

Make a squid and swiss chard stew.

Sounds delicious. Recipe?

The recipe is actually for sepia/cuttlefish, but squid will do at a pinch. I will link to a basic recipe. I would cook the squid/cuttle fish for longer and I would add some fresh herbs at he end of the cooking time.

Sepia a zimino

[fifi]

I was in this fix once, having planted sweeping rows of it in my regular garden. (I mix veggies in with ornamentals.) I had this Italian type with wide white ribs and a red variety called Vulcan. We just couldn't eat anymore so I consoled myself with just watching it from the porch as the setting sun backlit it in the evening. It was just gorgeous.

[Jim Dixon]

I've got a lot in my garden, too. If your tomatoes are ready, try spaghettini with slow-roasted cherry tomatoes and Swiss chard. I like to use both the orange Sungolds and regular red cherries for this, but mine are just coming on.

I've made what I call frittatine a lot recently. They're easier than they sound and something different.

Jim

[lex_cheapeats]

Dry it...

I know it sounds odd... but it is beautiful added to soups and stews in the winter when you can't get that great green flavour except from cellephane spinach.

[FoodMan]

For the stems, cut into 2inch pieces, blanch them in boiling water till barely soft then dry and mix in with tahini, chopped garlic, lots of lemon juice and a bit of cumin.

For the leaves, make a lentil and Chard soup.

FM

[sandra]

Blanch, refresh, frittata

[jsolomon]

What about the standard "put food by" method of blanch, shock, freeze in ziploc bags?

My family does this with: peppers, corn, asparagus, and morels with very awe-inspiring results.

[Jason Perlow]

Saute chinese style in stir fry oil with a ton of sliced garlic

[jackal10]

a) Chop in 2 inch pieces, stir-fry with whatever

b) Braise with bacon, onion, stock

c)Swiss Chard Quiche

d) Freeze like spinach. What seems a lot reduces greatly when cooked.

Edited August 15, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[lronick]

There's a great south-of-France tart called "Tourte de Blettes" made with green chard, but any chard will do. It's made with a sweet pate brise (sweetened with brown sugar) and can contain other ingredients like raisins, pine nuts, onion, etc. Here's a link to a recipe that's pretty authentic http://www.provencebeyond.com/food/tourtedeblett.html. It specifies sugar in the dough, but I suggest using brown sugar or 1/2 regular and 1/2 brown.

[Rhea_S]

I have a "what not to do with swiss chard." Do not accidentally leave in the trunk of your car for one week, especially during the summer. I noticed a disgusting, pungent smell in my car last night and first thought it might have been me since I had just been working out for one hour (ruled that out quickly). I also ruled out my a/c. I went through my trunk and found a bag of chard I had bought at the farmer's market about a week ago and a puddle of brown goo. Luckily, it was all nicely contained in a plastic tub, so nothing on my car's carpet.

[Saffy]

I made a really yummy pie with it this week

Flakey pastry crust ( double )

Cook 1-2 onions in a pan with a small amount of evo until caramelised, add 1-2 cloves of garlic, fry gently for a couple of mins.

Add chard that has been stemmed and chopped roughly, salt and pepper ( around two large bunches )

I also chopped around half of the stems into fine dice and added them in. lid on and steam until wilted.

Squeeze out the excess liquid and drain off.

Place filling into pie crust, sprinkle over cheese of your choice, and add sliced boiled eggs over the top and cover with the top crust. Bake until golden.

I thought this might be nice with some added pinenuts or red pepper, looked yummy and tasted great.

[RobertCollins]

In our Pacific Northwest Marine climate, at least in the coastal lowlands, it will go all winter. Fresh whenever you want it.

In Seattle it gets into the mid teens for cold and i still see it growing. Is Austin any colder? Many people plant it as a winter crop about the same time the garlic is planted.

[chefdavid321]

I've been using the leaves like grape leaves to make little tasty things filled with all sorts of stuff. they have been going over very well on the tasting menu (vegetarian) stuffed with barley, wild rice, olives, dried currants, etc..

[jaynesb]

We make a version of the Savory Swiss Chard Tart (Tourte aux blettes) from Bistro Cooking by Patricia Wells. One of these days, I'll try the sweet type. Sometimes I add chopped up sundried tomato or olives also. Basically and oil/water based crust with a filling made of swiss chard leaves, eggs, and parmesan. I give the swiss chard a quick dip in salted boiling water then shock it, squeeze it and chop it up by hand even though the recipe does something else.

I also make swiss chard empanadas and bake then freeze them. I often use a small amount of stems but mostly it's the leaves and some kind of cheese for the filling.

Both are very popular with our 11-year old twins. (Most requested meals!)

There is another topic about swiss chard stems somewhere here also.

jayne

[HowardLi]

Alton Brown shows shredded chard cooking in a cast iron skillet with duck fat, though I imagine you can get the same effect with pork fat (say, from pork chops). In his show he had browned a duck, so it was the rendered fat and the residual heat that did the cooking.

When the chard just starts to wilt, add some shallots and balsamic vinegar.