Category: Chard
Chard and Potato Pie
--inspired by Vegetarian Suppers by Deborah Madison
This is a substantial side dish or a light main dish served with a salad or two. It's begging for adaptations with different greens, herbs, the addition of a bit of sausage or leftover chicken to the filling, cheeses, etc.... Read more »
Bok Choy and Chard with Coriander and Fish Sauce
Rich and fragrant, this is a flavorful dish to serve with rice or noodles or grilled meats. Feel free to substitute other greens. I prefer to use just the leaves of the chard and choy in this dish but by all means use the stems as well for a heartier variation.
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Chard Rolls with Spiced Ground Beef (Lamb) or Rice
These are surprisingly quick to pull together and doable for a weeknight. Vary the beef seasonings to suit your taste/what you have on hand. Or use lamb, pork or any combination of ground meat. For a vegetarian version fill it with seasoned rice--see variations below.
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Sautéed Chard with Jalapeño, Ginger and Sausage
This pairs very nicely with a very quick red lentil dal and a cooling dollop of yogurt. Substitute spinach, mustard or collard greens or any other leafy green you might have, for the chard. You can also omit the sausage and fry a couple of eggs in the pan instead or just serve as is with dal or rice.
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Chard Baked with Orzo and Herbs
--Inspired by Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi
This an ideal cook-with-what you have template. Saute onions, garlic and maybe some carrots and celery; add whatever vegetable you have--in this case chard, stems and all, and add broth, lots of fresh herbs, some cheese and rice-shaped orzo pasta and bake it all until cooked and set.
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Fancy Braised Greens
--loosely inspired by Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters
You can mix and match most any kind of leafy green including escarole--a great use for a big head of escarole in fact. I used beet and turnip greens, chard and collard greens in this batch. If you have any kind of wine open, use the suggested amount. If you don't use broth or water mixed with 2 teaspoons of vinegar. This dish is even better the next day. You can also mix these greens with pasta or cook them down a bit more with borlotti or white beans.... Read more »
Collard Green Fritters w/ Harissa Yogurt Sauce
For this version, I needed to use up various vegetables. I had quite a few chard stems, a few scallions and half a bunch of collard greens.
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Chard, Radish Top & Parsley Pesto (with Spaghetti)
This pesto came about much in the same way this radish top version did. I use a combination of blanched greens and fresh herbs to make a quick pesto-like sauce. In this case I dressed spaghetti with it and it had a nice kick from red pepper flakes and did include a little cheese, which the radish top version does not.
Use whatever combination of greens and tender, leafy herbs (not sage or rosemary) and see what you get. I particularly like adding sorrel to this for its nice tart flavor. This is a wonderful way to work through a lot of leafy greens that, in the case of radish tops, don't tend to keep very well.
You can spread this pesto on salmon, toss it with warm lentils or beans, stir some into eggs, spread on a sandwich mixed with mayo or goat cheese (or as is), or garnish a soup with it, etc. Or you can toss it with pasta, as I've done here for an ultra quick meal.
The pesto will keep for about 3 days in the fridge.... Read more »
Quick Stovetop Mac and Cheese
My son often asks me to make mac n' cheese. I don't make it nearly often enough for his liking. When I say I don't have time (to make the bechamel/cream sauce and bake it) he says, "just make the quick version!" So here's the quick, stove top version that he loves almost as much.
Variations
Add vegetables such as peas, broccoli, cauliflower or finely chopped kale or chard about 3 minutes before the pasta is tender.
See this cauliflower pasta and this Brussels sprout pasta for similar dishes with vegetables.
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Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Greens "Pesto"
I had a large bunch of radish greens leftover from a cooking class, as well as 4-5 leaves of chard and half a bunch of cilantro. I needed a potluck dish and had sweet potatoes in the house. A new favorite dish was born! I would think most any combination of blanched greens and leafy herbs would be good. Toasted almonds or hazelnuts would be great in place of the walnuts if that's what you have.... Read more »
Chard Stem Gratin
Chard stems can be incorporated into many dishes that call for chard but some, like Chard Pesto or Farcous don't use the stems and then you should make this! You might start collecting them just so you can make this gratin. And the stems keep very well in the fridge.
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Indian-spiced Sautéed Vegetables
One beautiful spring evening when I couldn't bear the thought of coming in to cook dinner I threw together this little sauté and it was a keeper. The spices make it a bit more interesting and the cool yogurt a nice counter point. You can use most any vegetable and can certainly make it spicy or play with other seasonings, like adding ginger or coriander as well. I used chard, potatoes and onions in this version.
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Chard and Summer Squash "Cake" (Sformato)
This is a classic Italian vegetable custard, richly flavored and smooth. It’s best warm or at room temperature with a nice cold glass of white wine.
Serves 4 entree w/ a salad & bread, etc., 8 as a starter.... Read more »
Saag Paneer
This classic Indian dish of tender spinach and almost squeaky fresh paneer (cheese) is a favorite. The paneer is very simple to make (recipe below) but you can also buy it or substitute firm tofu for an inauthentic but perfectly fine variation. And if you have a lot of spinach make a double batch and freeze half of the finished dish. It reheats beautifully.
You can also make this with a combination of spinach and chard and kale or most any other leafy green.... Read more »
Shelling Beans with Chard and Lemon Mustard Dressing
Served warm this is a winner of a dish and rich enough to be the main deal when served with a big green salad or some such. You can vary it in many ways--adding herbs, other vegetables, bacon or sausage, etc.
Serves 2-3 as main, 4-5 as side... Read more »
Jamaican Rice and Beans and Greens
Versions of this dish are made all over the Caribbean though not necessarily with this many vegetables. It’s a satisfying one-dish meal and very easy to prepare and a great way to integrate fresh produce into the main dish itself. It’s a pantry dish in that basically all you need is rice, beans, onion, garlic and coconut milk. And if you have tomatoes and celery or greens of some kind, great!
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Moroccan Bulgur with Greens and Harissa
--inspired by Catherine Faris of Nuovastoria.com
This takes time to cook but putting it together is straightforward and just involves a lot of chopping. It's delicious with chard, kale, mustard greens, beet greens or any combination thereof or any other leafy green. It is delicious with a fried or poached egg and extra harissa and some Greek yogurt or with a simple piece of baked, poached or panfried fish, or just as is! It's a good accompaniment to lamb in any form. Harissa is a Tunisian hot chili sauce whose main ingredients are piri piri (type of chili pepper), Serrano peppers and other hot chili peppers and spices such as garlic paste, coriander, red chili powder, caraway as well as some vegetable or olive oil. It is most closely associated with Tunisia, Libya and Algeria but also popular in Morocco. There are many store-bought brands and you can also make your own. Harissa varies in its level of spiciness so start moderately as you can always add more when serving.
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Chard, Herb-roasted Chicken and Potatoes with Scallion Mint Vinaigrette
This is the loveliest platter of food—blanched chard and roasted chicken are dressed with the same, lemony, minty green onion vinaigrette. You can also roast the potatoes and cook the chard and use perfectly cooked hard-boiled eggs (cover eggs generously with cold water, bring to a boil, turn off heat and let sit in hot water for 8-9 minutes, drain and rinse in cold water) instead of chicken or you could use canned Oregon Albacore. The dressing is really what ties all together.
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Fava Bean Burgers
--adapted from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
These are a bit of work but are so delicious and pretty and combine typical CSA share ingredients--fava beans, beet greens/chard/spinach and potatoes.
Serves 4... Read more »
Chard (or Chard and Kale) Pesto
Give chard leaves a quick blanch and make a savory treat you’ll want to spread on/dress everything or just eat by the spoonful. You can mix chard and kale leaves here as well.
It’s a very adaptable recipe. It's wonderful, loosened a bit with warm water, tossed with boiled or roasted potatoes and/or carrots. I also use the pesto, stirred in to scrambled eggs or a savory bread pudding, as a sandwich spread, on quesadillas, as a dressing for pasta or roasted vegetables (be sure to loosen it with a little hot pasta cooking water before tossing it with pasta). You can mix it with fresh goat cheese for a lovely little crostini.
Like many of my recipes, the quantity of ingredients can be adapted to your taste and what you have on hand. This pesto keeps well in the fridge for 4-5 days so feel free to make a bigger batch if you have everything on hand.... Read more »