I've always been attracted to the bright lights swiss chard (pronounced CHard, like CHoo CHoo train, but I can't seem to break my habit of pronouncing it SHard) at the farmer's market, and I always get it, but it's a bit of a challenge. I want to just cook it like spinach, but the stems are tough and bitter, and the leaves are also not as wilty. I found this recipe in my Spoon cookbook:
SERVES 4
2.5 lbs Swiss Chard
scant 1/2 cup milk
3 Tbls butter
generous 1 cup Parm cheese, freshly grated
salt and pepper
Separate the chard leaves from the stems using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife. (Set the leaves aside to make soup.) Cut the stems into 2-inch pieces and cook in lightly salted boiling water for 10-15 minutes, until tender, then drain well. Heat the milk to just below simmering point, then remoive the pan from the heat. Melt the butter in a pan, add the chard steams and cook over high heat, stirring frequenty, for a a few minutes. Pour in the hot milk, lower the heat to medium and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan, season with salt and pepper, and transfer to a warm serving dish.
RESULTS: The Spoon is all about the warm serving dish, by the way.
I really liked this. The stems did lose all their color, and I think I boiled them too long because they got a little mushy, but they also lost their bitterness. I even sauted the stems in mostly olive oil with just a little butter for flavor, and I used very very little parmesan, and it was still great.
Also, I didn't have any soup in mind for the leaves, so I just chopped them up and added after I was done sauteing the stems, right before adding the milk (which I doubled or tripled). They wilted nicely. More time-intensive and more clean up than just sauteing like spinach, but I'm tired of spinach.
This week I got beet greens. We'll see how those taste!
scant 1/2 cup milk
3 Tbls butter
generous 1 cup Parm cheese, freshly grated
salt and pepper
Separate the chard leaves from the stems using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife. (Set the leaves aside to make soup.) Cut the stems into 2-inch pieces and cook in lightly salted boiling water for 10-15 minutes, until tender, then drain well. Heat the milk to just below simmering point, then remoive the pan from the heat. Melt the butter in a pan, add the chard steams and cook over high heat, stirring frequenty, for a a few minutes. Pour in the hot milk, lower the heat to medium and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan, season with salt and pepper, and transfer to a warm serving dish.
RESULTS: The Spoon is all about the warm serving dish, by the way.
I really liked this. The stems did lose all their color, and I think I boiled them too long because they got a little mushy, but they also lost their bitterness. I even sauted the stems in mostly olive oil with just a little butter for flavor, and I used very very little parmesan, and it was still great.
Also, I didn't have any soup in mind for the leaves, so I just chopped them up and added after I was done sauteing the stems, right before adding the milk (which I doubled or tripled). They wilted nicely. More time-intensive and more clean up than just sauteing like spinach, but I'm tired of spinach.
This week I got beet greens. We'll see how those taste!
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