swiss chard?

[La Texican]

I just bought some because I read that they were easy and plentiful to grow in a garden and very nutritious. I can see how the harvest would be plentiful because the vegitables are so large they go all the way across the ice chest I put them in for storage. I had to because I wasn't sure where to put them in my fridge. I bought some to see if my family will eat them. I don't need the healthiest recipe for them, but I do need the yummiest recipe for them. For example, I'm happy to serve my family cabbage fried in bacon grease with pepper on it.

[kewb]

Saute it up with garlic and olive oil.  Put it in soups.  Add it to a smoothie.  It is a versatile green.

[dbmamaz]

Remove leaves from stems.  Slice the stems like celery and saute with 2 pieces of bacon and 3 cloves minced garlic and a few scallions.  When that stuff is well cooked, add in the chard leaves.  Stir occasionally until done, about 5 minutes.  Season with lemon juice and salt

[Cricket]

I add it to soups. It's also good in pan-fried potatoes. My family isn't ready for straight Swiss chard yet!

[La Texican]

Ooh... I think I'll combine those last two and call it dinner tomorrow. I think my family will love it.

[sbbulliv]

I like to steam it and eat it with Paul Newmans balsamic dressing on it

[RocCityMom]

This torte recipe from Marcella Hazan's Italian cookbook is delish:

 

2.5 lbs young Swiss chard w/ undeveloped stalks OR 3.25 lbs mature chard
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil, 1/4 cup for cooking chard plus more for greasing and topping the pan
2/3 cup onion chopped fine
1 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese 
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup seedless raisins
Freshly ground black pepper
9" or 10" springform baking pan
2/3 heaping cup of unflavored bread crumbs, lightly toasted

1. If using mature chard, cut off the broad stalks and set aside [good sauteed with garlic and olive oil for a side dish!]. Cut the leaves into 1/4 inch shreds. Soak and wash the chard.
2. Boil water in a pot, using enough water and pot volume to accommodate the chard. Cook until tender, approx. 15 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.
3. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the moisture from the chard.
4. Chop the chard very fine.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
6. Choose a saute pan that can accommodate the chard. Put in 1/4 cup olive oil and the chopped onion. Cook at medium until the onion turns a light nut-brown.
7. Add the chopped chard, turning heat to high. Cook, turning the chard over frequently, until it becomes difficult to keep the chard from sticking to the pan (if using non-stick, you'll have to eyeball it to sense when the chard has properly heated through and become coated with the oil/onion mixture). When done, transfer entire contents to a bowl and let cool.
8. When chard has cooled to room temperature, add the grated Parmesan, the beaten eggs, and the pine nuts. Drain the raisins, squeeze them dry in your hand, and add them to the bowl. Add a few grindings of pepper. Mix thoroughly, taste and correct for pepper and salt (the Parmesan is salty, so a small pinch of salt is probably all that's necessary).
9. Smear the bottom and sides of the spring form pan with olive oil. Use a little more than half the bread crumbs, spreading a thin layer evenly over the pan. Add the chard mixture, leveling it off, but not pressing it hard. Top with the remaining bread crumbs, and drizzle the top with olive oil.
10. Put pan in preheated oven, bake for 40 minutes.
11. Remove pan, running knife edge along side of pan to release the torte. After 5 minutes rest, use a spatula to loose the torte from the pan bottom and slide it, without turning it over, onto a serving plate. Serve at room temperature. Do not refrigerate.

[redsquirrel]

Use it anywhere you would use spinach. They are fairly interchangeable.

[La Texican]

Thanks everybody. It seems like it's worth it to try to grow it because these recipes look good. We'll find out tomorrow what it tastes like in the potato, garlic, bacon, chard. Yum, this might be a really cool plant. I can't get over how huge the stalks and leaves are. There's a lot of food on that plant.

[livetoread]

I live in zone 6 Midwest. I plant it in late April, I start harvesting in late May, and keep harvesting until November. Cut it and it grows back, it grows through the heat of summer, it is frost tolerant, and is very disease resistant. I get some mild insect damage some years, but nothing much. It is the easiest, most rewarding garden item I grow. Very cheap too, just a pack of seeds and some water for a very long yield compared to the high cost at the store for even one bunch.

[Shamzanne]

This is one of my favorite dishes. It is a bit time consuming but totally worth it! Sweet Potato and Swiss Chard Gratin

 

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/11/swiss-chard-and-sweet-potato-gratin/

[Laura Corin]

This is all great to hear.  I'm planning on growing swiss chard this year for the first time.  Two questions:

 

- can you tell a difference in taste between the white versions and the fancy coloured ones?  Some people say the white tastes better.

 

- do the leaves do that weird dry-mouth thing when you eat them, like spinach?  Three of us don't mind that, but Hobbes really doesn't like spinach, whilst he's happy with dark green cabbages, kale, etc.

 

L

[Melissa in Australia]

in Australia we call it silver beet. we treat it very much like spinach: steam it, put it in stir-fry, add to spaghetti etc. it contains oxalic acid and should not be eaten more than twice a week as oxalic acid is hard for the body to process and can build up

[La Texican]

oh! It does taste like spinach! I made the Italian dish upthread, with the potato/stalk stirfry as a side dish. We'll be sitting down to eat it in about 15 minutes. I tasted the raw stalk when I was chopping. It does taste like spinach, with the texture of celery. We are going to like this stuff!

[LizzyBee]

My kids like it in stir fry.

[Miss Tick]

- can you tell a difference in taste between the white versions and the fancy coloured ones? Some people say the white tastes better.

 

- do the leaves do that weird dry-mouth thing when you eat them, like spinach? Three of us don't mind that, but Hobbes really doesn't like spinach, whilst he's happy with dark green cabbages, kale, etc.

 

L

I've never tasted back-up-back. The rainbow chard is pretty, but the color usually goes away as it cooks. I often plant the rainbow version because I enjoy the colors and it is in the garden a long time.

 

I've never noticed the dry mouth thing with chard. We rarely eat it raw, though, and I think I notice it more with raw spinach than cooked.

[Pod's mum]

We leave some to go to seed and have it self seeding all through the garden and driveway. Have done so for several years now. It annoys some friends that I leave it looking leggy and deadish to drop seeds. (So I get that 'annoying good friends' benefit too. What's not to like?)

[dbmamaz]

Mmm, i love annoying the neighbors with my garden.  After getting turned in to the county TWICE for grass over 12 inches in my flower beds WHEN I WAS ON CRUTCHES DUE TO AN INJURY . . . I really wanted to get a nude garden statue . . . but they cost too much.  

[redsquirrel]

I have eaten my body weight in chard several times over, lol. I am laughing people getting excited about chard.

 

The rainbow chard does keep its colour a bit in the stalk when you cook it. The red certainly does. If you dice the yellow and red stalks and steam them they look very pretty sprinkled on a soup etc.  But the taste is exactly the same. Well, maybe.... maybe the red tastes just slightly like beet greens? I can't stand beet greens (one of the few greens I don't like) but I ate plenty of red chard so it can't be that similar.

 

We belonged to a CSA for years and I live in an climate that makes it easy to grow greens (the NE USA). Our farmer loooooved rainbow chard. Every week 6 months we got bunches of it. Rainbow Chard and Dinosaur Kale by the pound. We had so much of it that I would puree it and put it in cakes and waffles. BTW, pureed greens hide well in waffles BUT you have to add cocoa powder and sugar. If you don't add the cocoa powder they look like greenish greyish alien waffles and no one, not even you, will eat them.

[dbmamaz]

Haha kale waffles, hysterical!  But i have a chocolate-hating kid.  I belong to a CSA once where we had mostly kale one season, and mostly sweet peppers the next, and then the farmer got too frustrated to continue lol . . . one of the customers pointed out that kale made a quick and easy addition to ramen noodles . . .