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Swiss Chard

Popular in France, Germany and the Balearics, but often ignored here. Part of the beet family, but it's the thick, lush stems and vigorous, green leaves that are eaten. There is red chard, too, with deep-red stalks and pink-tinged leaves.

The stems are the best bit, often steamed or boiled until tender, then served with melted butter like asparagus. They taste of asparagus, too, cooked like this, delicate and delicious with a juicy texture.

The leaves are generally prepared separately, turned in butter like spinach or cooked in pates or soups. The texture is coarser than spinach

Wash chard well before use, to remove any soil and grit from the leaves. It can be used raw in salads, similar to spinach in cooked dishes.

If your chard has chunky stems, then it can be easier to treat it as two separate vegetables. The stems will need to cook for longer than the leaves.

Snap off the stems and chop them. Saute them with garlic and butter until soft. Chop the leaves and add them for the last 2 minutes - just like spinach. Finish with a little fresh, grated nutmeg.

Swiss Chard Pesto

This recipe is a variation on a traditional Egyptian dish. It includes the addition of toasted pine nuts and parmesan, to give more breadth to the flavour. You can keep the pesto in the fridge for up to 3 days - or you can freeze it in small pots. Use as a pasta sauce, or add at the last minute to give extra flavour to a stew.
From http://vegbox-recipes.co.uk/

1 knob butter
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
Bunch of Swiss chard (about 300g) - any variety
Handful (about 50g) pine nuts
100g fresh parmesan or pecorino cheese, grated
Handful of fresh coriander leaves

Wash the chard thoroughly and shake to dry.

Melt the butter in a saucepan with the olive oil. Peel and chop the garlic and saute for 2 minutes.

Chop the chard stems and add them to the pan. Stir and then cook, covered, for 5 minutes.

Roughly chop the chard leaves and add them to the pan. Cook for another 3 minutes.

Toast the pine nuts for a couple of minutes (either under a pre-heated grill or in a dry pan)

Turn off the heat under the chard. Add the coriander leaves, pine nuts and parmesan.
Puree the mixture until it looks like pesto.

Garbanzos and Swiss Chard in the Style of the Tunisian Sahel (Morshan)

Originally posted by Kay Hartman in RFC.
Makes 4 servings (as a side dish, 2 as a veggie main)

After trying it out I was inspired to check out the new Middle Eastern cookbook I bought, and there on the front cover was another version of this dish! Their version uses spinach, so I guess you could use any leafy green veg. I have to admit that since I had not planned eating this in advance, I used canned chick-peas (Garbanzos), it was still pretty good.

3/4 pound Swiss chard leaves
2 large cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 small dried red chili
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup minced onion
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 cup Cooked Garbanzos (chickpeas)
3/4 cup bean cooking liquid
1 lemon, cut in wedges, optional

Stem, rinse and tear chard into large pieces. In pot steam, parboil or microwave chard leaves until tender, about 5 minutes. Set leaves in colander to drain. Squeeze out excess moisture and shred coarsely.

Crush garlic in mortar with salt, coriander and chile until thick, crumbly paste forms.

Heat olive oil in 10-inch skillet and saute onion until pale-golden. Add garlic paste and tomato paste and stir into oil until sizzling. Add chard, cooked Garbanzos and cooking liquid and cook, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand until ready to serve. (Contents of skillet should be very moist but not soupy.
For looser texture, stir in more garbanzo cooking liquid.)

Serve warm, at room temperature or cold with lemon wedges.

Blette à la Provençale

Theodora Zemek of Putney, south-west London, sent a recipe where, unusually, the leaves and stalks appear together. It is her interpretation of a classic French dish that she first ate in a restaurant in the Vaucluse in France. The buttery, creamy chard is excellent with fish or lamb. From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

4 large stalks Swiss chard
Juice of one lemon
3 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped (or to taste)
4 tinned or salted anchovy fillets (or to taste)
.75 level teaspoon plain flour
Creme fraîche (optional)

Wash the chard and strip the dark green leaves from the stalks. With a small, sharp paring knife remove the largest stringy veins from the leaves. Tear the leaves into large pieces. Set aside to drain. Then peel away any obviously stringy bits from the stalks as if they were celery. Cut off the base of each stalk, and dice into uniform rectangles of about 1cm by 2cm. Bring a pot of salted water to a rapid boil. Add the lemon juice and the pieces of stalk. Cook stalk 5-7 minutes until al dente; drain and reserve.

In a large frying pan, heat the butter and soften the garlic. Increase the heat, and add the chard leaves and the anchovy fillets. Sprinkle over the flour and toss until the chard leaves have wilted. (The flour absorbs the juices and makes a slightly creamy coating) Add the cooked stalk pieces, stirring and tossing, until the stalks are heated through and the leaves are cooked. Stir in a couple of spoonfuls of creme fraiche if you like. Taste; season with freshly ground pepper and a little salt if necessary. Serve immediately.