"SwissChard" news and stories

Put a little green in your chili. No, not green peppers but greens like Swiss chard. Rich, succulent chard adds texture, deep flavor, and, a healthy dose of Vitamins A and C to the mix. This easy recipe comes from blogger veggiefrog, who also piles on the white beans and garlic. (See yesterday's post for more on chili,)

Swiss chard comes in a rainbow of varieties and colors, and a couple of my favorites are 'Rhubarb' and 'Ruby Red'. Its perfect in its simplest form, braised with olive oil and garlic, as in this recipe from Kitchen Daily contributor Alexis Touchet. And if you want to include it in an absolutely delicious one-dish dinner, try contributor Ruth Cousineau's Nutty Swiss Chard, Squash, and Cannelini Bake.

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Swiss Chard is one of my favorite vegetables. Half leafy green and half fibrous crunch, it has a multitude of uses. I particularly like to saute the stems with carrots, onions and carrots when I'm making soup and then stir the shredded greens into broth just before serving. It's a great veggie for beginning gardeners, because it grows abundantly, giving you a whole lot of return on a small amount of investment. It's also a very lovely looking veggie, a feature demonstrated by the picture you see up there.

Thanks Nina, for sharing your Swiss Chard picture with us!

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This Saturday, I was struck by the gorgeous vibrant red roots and shiny green leaves of the Swiss chard being sold at the farmer's market in Grand Army Plaza, in Brooklyn. Surprisingly, I never cooked Swiss chard before. Nevertheless, I left the market determined to eat some. When I got home, I steamed the chard and served it with butter and grey sea salt. The aroma from the kitchen made me feel as though I was lying outside on the ground of a vegetable garden.

For some reason, I thought that spinach and chard were so similar that it did not make a difference which one I'd choose to cook. Interestingly, by the nineteenth century, seed catalog publishers used the word Swiss to distinguish chard from French spinach varieties. If the chard is fresh and young, it can be eaten raw in salads. Since mature chard leaves and stalks become increasingly bitter, they're typically cooked or sauteed so that the bitterness fades.

Below are 8 recipes for Swiss chard:

1. Baked pork chops with Swiss chard
2. Chard with orange and bacon
3. Swiss chard soufflé
4. Crispy Swiss chard cakes with mascarpone-creamed spinach
5. Lamb stew with Swiss chard and garlic-parsley toasts
6. Swiss-Chard, potato, and chickpea stew
7. Butternut squash gnocchi with duck confit and Swiss chard
8. Swiss chard and herb tart

Whenever I visit a farmer's market, or browse through the goodies at my local organic food store in the spring or summer, I am drawn to the greens like flies to ripe fruit. From the olive drab of the collard to the Rainbow-Brite stalks of chard, I love them all. I bring them home, their broad, thick leaves taking up most of the space in my brown paper bag, and my husband sighs. I'm making him eat his veggies.

But oh, what veggies! Properly cooked, greens can act as a base for flavor, much like pasta or potatoes, but way, way better for your heart, your waistline, your cancer risk - everything, really. Owen at Tomatilla! describes his method for preparing greens today, which is really very similar to mine. He adds in lemon juice where I choose vinegar, uses soy sauce instead of kosher salt, and doesn't find garlic mandatory (I do). Here's how: