. . . and delicious! The wedding cake! Yes it was but that’s for the next post! I’m really talking about Chard, Swiss Chard. Much less sexy but much more practical. Chard is a workhorse of a vegetable and solved my dinner conundrum tonight. I have four plants in the garden and pick a generous bunch at least once a week.
Unfortunately my red chard plants just started bolting so I have less of a rainbow situation now but the white and gold ones are still beautiful.
Chard keeps in a plastic bag in the fridge for at least a week. It’s easy to cook and equally delicious braised for a longer period of time to bring out all its sweetness or quickly sautéed.
In tonight’s iteration I turned it into “Daddy Patties”, so named by my niece for my brother. Not sure why, but the moniker has stuck. Call them what you will, they are a hearty, delicious meal usually devoured by non-greens-loving adults and children with glee, as well as by us greens-lovers!
I had a heel of stale bread to use up today and was a bit lazy and just cut the bread into rough pieces. I love the flavor and texture of the bigger bits of bread in the patties but it does make the patties harder to fry and flip as they break up more easily. They taste just as good but aren’t quite as beautiful.
My mother used to serve these with rice and a tomato sauce. I don’t usually take the time to make a sauce but it’s a great combo. I serve them with a dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream or just plain or with a salad on the side.
2 bunches greens (chard, beet greens, spinach, kale, collards or any combination of these)
2 eggs
½ – 1 cup grated cheese (cheddar, swiss, gouda, asiago, parmesan (use the smaller amount if you’re using a hard cheese like parmesan, etc.)
1 cup larger, roughly torn bread crumbs or 1/cup more finely ground ones (or if you don’t have bread/bread crumbs you can use 3 Tablespoons of cornmeal in the batter instead)
a pinch or two of chili flakes (optional)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
salt
pepper
oil for pan frying
Wash and coarsely chop the greens. Cook them in ½ cup or so of water in a large sauté pan or pot for a few minutes until they are tender (for kale or collards the cooking time will be a bit longer, but not much). Drain well and squeeze out most of the moisture and chop the greens again. Beat the 2 eggs in a large bowl, add salt, pepper, chili flakes and nutmeg (if using), grated cheese and bread crumbs. Mix in greens. Taste for salt.
Heat a cast iron or other large skillet with a tablespoon or so of olive or safflower oil. When hot spoon about large spoonfuls of the mixture into pan and pat down with a spatula to flatten. Flip after a few minutes when the underside is golden brown. Cook a few minutes more and serve. They keep warm and hold up nicely in a 250 degree oven.
Carol Boutard says:
I love growing chard, but find that it can be a bit much on its own. I will absolutely be making this one. Thank you for the photographic details, as I would have thought they would not stay together so well. I wonder if you might make these with other greens, such as amaranth or orach?
cookwithwhatyouhave says:
Yes, Carol, I would imagine it would work well with those greens though I don’t have much experience with either of them. Try it and let me know how it works.
Nashali Rivera says:
I am a private chef always looking for simple yet delicious ways to recreate vegetables and OMG this recipe was an absolute HIT with my clients!!!
I didn’t follow the measurements quite precisely but I basically went by consistency for the eggs and bread crumbs and they were honestly perfect! served with a harissa yogurt sauce and they were devoured!
cookwithwhatyouhave says:
Fantastic!
Mommy says:
Kind of an odd feeling to be reading a recipe for these staples that have never really had a recipe. I just happen to have some in the kitchen along with the tomato sauce with lots of parsley that is on its last legs. Some of my chard is beginning to bolt too so I picked lots, froze 2/3 and made patties out of the rest – without cheese for Vita, with cheese for us.
M
Theya says:
Thanks for the idea! I made these for the kids tonight, I had a whole bunch of Kale from the SIO CSA (where I learned about your blog last week), that needed to be cooked and this was the perfect solution! I made them with a combo of mozzarella and parano and my eight-year-old thought they tasted like pizza.
cookwithwhatyouhave says:
So glad this was useful today. It’s really very adaptable and as you say, the kids tend to like it. My son gobbled up 3 tonight!
Cynthia says:
I have never had chard but you recipe looks great so I will try it this week . Thanks
Jane Pellicciotto says:
These look great Katherine. What an awesome idea. I’ve had a too-much-chard season and thought I was getting creative but clearly I was not! I’m currently facing too much Italian kale.
heatherstebbings says:
I just made these with a side of spicy sauteed prawns – they were awesome!! And vitamin packed!
Debbie says:
These were a big hit with the hubbie last night – thanks!
cookwithwhatyouhave says:
So glad Debbie. And what about you? Did you like them? They are definitely a favorite in our house-hold.
Leesa says:
Making these again after y 9 year old son begged me (which didn’t take much convincing since I also thought they were amazing. The difference this time is my oven decided to go out and it is in the middle of my kitchen waiting to be repaired (or replaced depending on what the repairman says tomorrow) so I steamed the chard in my microwave steamer, then chopped it up. Seems to have worked pretty good. I did add some onion and garlic powder and some Franks red hot sauce instead of the red pepper flakes (easier to get to with my stove in the way). They are all mixed up and ready to go for dinner. I will be cooking them in my George foreman grill or my sandwich maker (whichever one I can get to easier 🙂 ). Thanks again for a GREAT and HEALTHY recipe my kids love!!
cookwithwhatyouhave says:
Thanks for the report Leesa. Hope they did well on the grill. Good for you for making do. They are such a great vehicle for getting veggies in folks and most importantly, very delicious.
Leesa says:
They turned out just as delicious as the first time…..Thanks again for a GREAT recipe!!
Brooks says:
I just made these and they are DELICIOUS! I used kale, gouda and parmesan. Thanks for a great recipe. I love having an easy idea for using leftover greens and cheeses!
cookwithwhatyouhave says:
That’s fantastic Brooks! So glad they worked out.