Swiss chard is my favorite green. It is a tender, mild flavored green, and quick enough to cook that I can make it as a weeknight vegetable side. I love its rainbow of colors- red, yellow, pink, orange, and all different shades of green. It is one of the prettiest things you can eat.
I don't understand why it is not a favorite at my CSA. Whenever we get Swiss chard, I find it in the vegetable adoption bin. I can't help myself - it comes home with me. It was particularly bad a couple of weeks ago; I got a huge bunch in my CSA share, and someone left their huge bunch in the adoption bin. I drove home thinking "That's a lot of chard. I'm going to have to come up with a new recipe for this week, just for some variety."
And then...life happened. The next morning was a Saturday, which is when I usually do my grocery shopping. Both of my sons had soccer games, and I'm the coach of my youngest son's Kindergarten soccer team.
The kids were cute. My coaching consisted of as many high fives as I could possibly give out, reminding them you can't use your hands in soccer, and yelling "Look out! Here comes the ball!" a whole lot.
Diane wanted to help out by doing the grocery shopping while I was coaching. I was reluctant; call me strange, but I enjoy going to the grocery store. But it seemed like a good plan, because we were going to be very busy otherwise. I quickly put a meal plan together, and filled in the grocery list below it. I wrote down all the vegetables I got from the CSA in the middle of the page, so I would remember what I had while I made the meal plan for the week. "2 big bunches chard, new potatoes, beets..." and so on down the page. Normally I title this section, something like "CSA Vegetables", but today I didn't. I was in a hurry. Diane left for the store with Natalie while I got the boys ready for their games.
The boys and I were late, as usual. We were in the middle of a frantic search for shin guards and matching socks when my cell phone buzzed. Diane was calling from the store. I thought "I'll call back once we're in the car...we're late..." And promptly forgot all about the call. Of course, she was calling to find out what the list of CSA vegetables in the middle of the shopping list meant. She was suspicious, but when I didn't call back, she bought the whole list to be safe. Now I had double my usual amount of vegetables. Except for the Swiss chard, which was quadrupled.
So, I'm declaring this to be Swiss Chard Overdrive week. Wondering what to do with that last crop of Swiss Chard from your CSA? I found a couple of delicious recipes while I was using up my jumbo chard pile. Stay tuned...
What do you think? Questions? Other ideas? Favorite Swiss Chard recipes? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts:
Basic Swiss Chard Saute
Swiss Chard Saute with Pine Nuts and Raisins (Coming Tuesday)
Swiss Chard Gratin (Coming Thursday)
Enjoyed this post? Want to help out DadCooksDinner? Subscribe using your RSS reader or by Email, recommend DadCooksDinner to your friends, or buy something from Amazon.com through the links on this site. Thank you!
MikeV @ DadCooksDinner
@DineInDiva:
Mmmmm...crispy shallots and bacon....
@Beth K:
Doh! How could I forget swiss chard tacos! I saw Rick Bayless make them on his TV show a few years back, and you're right, they are delicious.
Beth K.
Swiss Chard Tacos. It's one of our favorite things to do with it. Lots of onions sauteed until soft, add the whole bunch of chard and wilt. Serve on warm corn tortillas with salsa, cheese and creme fraiche. Yum. We also love fritattas with Swiss chard, too. Let us know what you do with it. It's always nice to have a lot of recipes for greens.
DineInDiva
I am making this Skillet Greens with Crispy Shallots and Cider Gastrique except I doubt I will deep fry the shallots. Sounds fancy, but doesn't look too difficult. And it's an excuse to make some bacon.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Skillet-Greens-with-Crispy-Shallots-and-Cider-Gastrique-351050