White bean and chard soup

Perhaps this is not the most summery dish, but an excellent way to use up a head of beautiful red chard, nonetheless. (Plus a lot of homemade broth.)

1 bag white beans, pre-soaked and drained
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
olive oil
1 head of chard (or other leafy green), destemmed and chopped
Seasonings: salt, pepper, red chili flakes, cumin, parsley, Italian seasoning
broth

Saute the onion, carrots and celery in olive oil until soft. Add the beans and enough broth to float it all; simmer covered on low until the beans are tender. Add chard and seasonings to taste. Simmer another five minutes and serve, possibly with parmesan sprinkled on top.

Baked rigatoni with eggplant, chard and mushrooms

Hey, look! I cooked something!

It's been over a month since I cooked anything (Christmas Day, to be exact). In that time, I've been eating a lot of other people's cooking and road food. Also some nice meals out, but probably too many.

To avoid spending unnecessary money on both road food and eating out, I wanted to get my kitchen operational as quickly as possible. Step 1: unpack. Step 2: stock the pantry. I started at Costco, and finished with a couple of trips to local grocery chains. I've discovered that some things are weirdly cheap (eggs are $1 a dozen, eggplants are $1 each) and some things are weirdly expensive (booze has a 35% tax! Can you believe it?).

The pantry is about 85% there, but it's enough to get started. First I made chili with ground pork, then I made a big batch of tomato sauce, then I made some fudge, and now I'm making bread.

For dinner last night, I made baked rigatoni with eggplant, chard, and mushrooms. It's a variation on a theme, but a delicious one.

1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped (I used one large shallot)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 small package of mushrooms, quartered
1 bunch chard, loosely chopped
3-4 cups tomato sauce
Leaves from 1 small bunch basil
1 pound rigatoni
1 pound fresh mozzarella
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Heat some olive oil in a skillet until hot. Add the eggplant pieces in one comfortable layer (you may need to do more than one batch) and cook until golden brown. Set aside in a large bowl. Cook the mushrooms next in the same skillet. Add to the eggplant. Saute the onion and garlic next, and add that to the eggplant. Cook the chard just long enough so that it's wilted, and add that to the eggplant as well.

Cook the rigatoni until still slightly firm. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. Add both to the eggplant, along with the tomato sauce, basil and any seasonings,  and the mozzarella. Mix well, and pour into a large casserole dish. Top with parmesan and pepper, and bake at 450 until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. Serve immediately.

Black bean soup with sausage and chard

It's that time of year again: the leaves are changing color, it's cold outside, and I just want to eat soup all the time. Are you like that, too? This is today's concoction: black beans, Italian sausage, and chard.

1 bag of dried black beans, soaked and pre-cooked
1 large onion, diced
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
4 links sweet Italian sausage
1 head Swiss chard, stems removed, chopped
Broth
Seasonings: cumin, chili powder, oregano, bay leaf, salt and pepper
Optional: 1 jalapeno

Squeeze the sausage meat out of the casings into a large stockpot with some olive oil. Brown gently, then add the onion and garlic (and jalapeno, if using). Saute until softened. Add the beans and enough broth to float the mixture.

Cook on low for an hour or so, or until the beans are cooked through. Add the seasonings and chard, and cook until the chard is just wilted. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro.

Baked eggs with chard and mushrooms

Ah, the joys of baked eggs for dinner. Simple, fast, delicious, and slightly daring, since you're eating eggs for dinner. Also, a great way to get some protein when there's not much in the house.

I combined a bag of dried shittake mushrooms (reconstituted in boiling water) with 2-3 big handfuls of chopped fresh chard in a little butter, and cooked the chard down until it was wilted. I buttered six ramekins, filled each about 3/4 with the chard/mushroom mixture, and topped each with an egg. I topped the egg with a tablespoon of milk (cream would work better, but I didn't have any) and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Bake at 400 until the whites of the eggs have just set. Serve immediately.

Swiss chard, barley, and lentil soup

I ate more junk food last week than I normally do in a year.

I love my family, and I love seeing them at Christmas, but my uncles are junk food fiends. I was in a house filled to the rafters with chips, store-bought pastries and pound cakes, enormous bags of M&Ms, and every kind of soda imaginable. It all got eaten, too.

So I was very happy that my mother sent me home with some goodies from her garden--several bags of fresh-cut herbs which are now drying, but most importantly, two great big bags of chard. Instead of having to run right out and buy groceries as soon as I got home, I've now got a several-day supply of greenery that I can supplement with pantry stuff.

My body is crying out for green stuff.

Last night I made a chard, barley and lentil soup, but I made it more like a slurry and less like a soup--I didn't put much liquid in there at all. You can put in more, if you like.

Here's the original recipe, reprinted below. I didn't put in carrots or dill (didn't have any) and I used shallots instead of onions (didn't have any).

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onions
• 1 1/2 cups chopped peeled carrots
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 10 cups (or more) low-salt chicken or vegetable broth
• 2/3 cup pearl barley
• 1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
• 2/3 cup dried lentils

• 4 cups (packed) coarsely chopped Swiss chard (about 1/2 large bunch)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Heat oil in heavy large nonreactive pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and carrots; sauté until onions are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and stir 1 minute. Mix in cumin; stir 30 seconds. Add 10 cups broth and barley; bring to boil. Reduce heat; partially cover and simmer 25 minutes. Stir in tomatoes with juice and lentils; cover and simmer until barley and lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.

Add chard to soup; cover and simmer until chard is tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in dill. Season soup with salt and pepper. Thin with more broth, if desired.

Linguine with chard and egg

Happy birthday to me, by the way!

This takes five minutes to throw together and is a great way to use up a head of chard. The egg can be poached, fried, whatever. It's a bit of a carb fest, but it has green stuff in it, so it's healthy.

1 head chard
2 cloves garlic, minced
red pepper flakes
olive oil
1 lb linguine, cooked
parmesan cheese
egg, poached or fried, 1 per serving

Saute the garlic and pepper flakes in the olive oil, just until the garlic gets fragrant; add the chard and cook until just wilted, maybe 2 minutes. Add the cooked and drained linguine (a little pasta water is okay). Toss with salt and pepper and parmesan. Top each serving with an egg and enjoy.

Tomato, chard and egg white frittata

(There's going to be a lot of tomato recipes on here. Just bear with me.)

This was actually far tastier than I thought it would be. I thought, you know, egg white frittata, some oven-roasted cherry tomatoes, some swiss chard, some random bits of vegetables, it would taste like egg whites with vegetables. But this was really good.

Caveat: you'll need a cast-iron skillet for this, or some other kind of skillet that can go directly from stovetop to oven.

5-6 egg whites
2 whole eggs
a handful of cherry tomatoes (either fresh or roasted)
1 shallot, sliced
3 leaves of swiss chard, chopped
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Saute the shallot in a couple tablespoons of either olive oil or bacon fat (I used bacon fat) until soft. Add the swiss chard, and cook just until wilted. Mix together the egg whites, eggs, and feta cheese, and pour into the pan with the swiss chard. Mix together, and add the cherry tomatoes (I also threw in a few green beans). Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes or until puffy and browned on top. Salt and pepper to taste.

Sriracha chard pickles

Check out these Sriracha fridge pickles, made from swiss chard stems. I made them and can I just say this is the best use of Sriracha plus something that would otherwise get thrown out that I know of.

Chard salad

Another variation on the raw-winter-greens salad.  I'm starting to really like these--they have more flavor and substance (and texture) than regular lettuce salads. They also hold up better to dressings.

1 bunch chard, chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 red wine

1/4 cup OJ

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 cup raisins

3/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup parmesan

Mix the liquids and sugar together, adding the oil last in a slow stream while mixing. Add to the chard and mix well. Add raisins, walnuts and parmesan and serve.

Bacon, chard and walnut tart

I've never had a lot of success with tarts.

A lot of tart recipes call for complicated crusts, which turns me (and most everyone else) off. The few times I've attempted a tart, I made my standard pie crust recipe instead--which clung to the inside of the tart pan and essentially ruined the tart-ness of the tart. In later years, when my crappy yard-sale tart pan gave out, I just made the "tart" in a pie pan, with a pie crust.

Well, the other day I was at Williams-Sonoma picking up a salad spinner, and I noticed several kinds of tart pans on their sale table. It was on sale, it was good quality, I no longer owned a tart pan, so I picked one up.

And lo, this recipe for a Bacon, Chard and Walnut Tart fell into my lap.

And lo! I already had all of the ingredients! Including a brand-new tart pan!

Now I know why my tarts always failed--a flaky pie crust will cling to the inside of the tart pan. You want a more crumbly crust, like this one, which was way easier to put together than I thought it would be. This may turn out to be my default tart crust from now on.

Reprinted here, from Food52:

Serves 8


Walnut Tart Crust:

1 1/2 cup organic all-purpose flour
1/2 cup walnut meal (made from whirring walnuts in a blender until fine)
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 cup toasted walnut oil
1/2 cup ice water (you probably won't use it all)

Bacon, Chard and Walnut Filling:

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, heated in a hot skillet for a minute or two until "toasted" (be careful not to burn them)
1 cup chopped thickly sliced bacon
1 cup chopped sweet/Vidalia onion
1 tablespoon toasted walnut oil
1 bunch green chard leaves, chopped
4 eggs, preferably organic and free-range
1/2 cup organic heavy cream
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, plus more for optional garnish
1 pinch sea salt
dash of ground black pepper

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, walnut meal, and the salt.
2.Add the toasted walnut oil and mix well.
3.Add about 1/4 cup of the water, and using your hands, mix until it starts to form a dough. Add more water, a tablespoon or so at a time, and keep using your hands to mix until it comes together into a ball.
4.Roll out into a little bigger than the bottom of your tart pan on a floured surface. It's ok if it falls apart a little- it's better not to overwork it and just to press the extra pieces into the tart pan.
5.Rub the bottom and sides of your tart pan with toasted walnut oil and then transfer the rolled-out dough into the tart pan. Using the heel of your hand (or whatever that part of your hand under your thumb is called), press the dough into the bottom and half-way up the sides of your tart pan. Any pieces that broke off while you were rolling can be pressed in now. I am all for charmingly rustic tart crusts, so don't worry if it doesn't look perfect.
6.Prick the crust all over with the tines of a fork, then cover with a layer of foil and place pie weights or a layer of dried beans on top. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the weights/beans and foil and bake for another 10 minutes or until crust just starts to brown and become fragrant. Set aside while you make the tart filling; reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
7.In a cast-iron skillet, cook chopped bacon for several minutes, until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and set aside. Pour half the bacon fat into another skillet and leave the rest where it is.
8.Add chopped onion to one of the skillets along with the tablespoon of toasted walnut oil. Cook for about 20 minutes over low heat, stirring every now and then, until well caramelized.
9.In the other skillet, cook the chard over low-medium heat for 3-4 minutes. until fully wilted. When the onions are done, combine them with the chard, the toasted walnuts, and the cooked bacon in a large bowl. Add the thyme leaves and mix well.
10.Add the eggs, cream, and maple syrup to a small bowl and whisk until blended. Add this to the bacon mixture and combine. Pour into the par-baked tart shell.
11.Place the filled tart pan on a cookie sheet and place in the oven. Bake until the center of the tart is set, about 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before removing the tart from the outside and bottom of the pan; garnish with additional fresh thyme if desired before serving.
 
Notes: This is WAY better made ahead of time and reheated, as the filling will thicken more and the flavors will meld better. A perfect thing to make ahead for a fancy brunch.

Swiss chard lasagna

One of the easiest and quickest lasagnas I've ever thrown together, but sadly, not the tastiest. I mean, it was fine--but not, you know, really good like lasagna should be.

I used this recipe from the New York Times, which is very simple and very quick. But what you really want here is to integrate the chard into all the other lasagna flavors, and not just have chard, noodles, and tomatoes floating around in your mouth. And that's what this recipe turned out tasting like--all the separate ingredients of lasagna, without being tied together into one uber-lasagna taste.

So I therefore say: Use my lasagna recipe instead, and simply add the chard between layers. Don't worry about cooking or de-stemming the chard beforehand, the tomato sauce in the lasagna will cook it and the stems are just extra fiber. Plus, since it has chard in it, it's healthy.

Swiss chard wraps

Are these wraps, tacos or burritos? You decide.

1 head swiss chard, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
sprinkle of dried red pepper flakes
splash of broth
goat cheese, feta cheese, or queso blanco
salsa
tortillas

Saute the onion in bacon fat or olive oil until soft. Throw in the garlic, wait 10 seconds; add the pepper flakes and broth. Add the swiss chard, cover, and let cook for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and let the broth boil off. Serve on warm tortillas with cheese and salsa.

Sounds weird to have cooked greens with cheese and salsa, but these were a lot better than I thought they would be. You could leave the cheese off and have these as a sort of vegan breakfast burrito, too.

Swiss chard pancakes

These aren't pancakes so much as they are kind of a thick crepe. It's a very French thing to eat. They're very good with a salad, or with this radish salsa I made (pictured). Yes, radish salsa. You'll hear about that tomorrow.

I adapted this recipe from Around My French Table (which you'll also hear about later).

2 cups milk
2 1/2 cups flour
3 large eggs
1 small onion
2 peeled garlic cloves
fresh parsley
several large chard leaves, center stem removed (spinach will also work, if you don't have chard)
peanut, grapeseed or vegetable oil

Whiz the chard, the onion, and the garlic in your food processor until well mixed. In another bowl, mix the other stuff (except for the oil), and add the chard mixture.

Heat the oil in a large skillet until very hot, then fry the pancakes in batches until golden brown on each side. (Note: I used vegetable oil, and the pancakes were fine, but I think peanut oil would have imparted a much more interesting flavor.)

My husband remarked, "These would make a nice burger." By which he meant (I think) you could make them a little thicker and dress them up as a sandwich. However you eat them, they'll freeze nicely.

Cost: bunch of Swiss chard, maybe $2. Eggs, milk, flour: 75 cents. Everything else: another 50 cents. Total: $3.25, and this made 16 pancakes. 3 pancakes each (with salsa) was a full adult serving, so that's 5 adult servings from the one batch, for a per-serving cost of 65 cents.

Israeli couscous and chard

More Israeli couscous! I love this stuff. The recipe is basically just the two ingredients. Cook the couscous in water, while sauteing the chopped greens in a little olive oil and maybe some garlic, until just wilted down. Add the couscous, stir together, add salt and pepper to taste. Done. You can also use beet greens, or kale, or collards, or really any kind of bitter green.

Lentils with sausage and swiss chard

Oh, swiss chard, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I used plain green lentils, and the last of the gator sausage my sister brought me from the Gulf Coast, 'cause I'm cool like that. Any kind of sausage will be fine.

Several links of sausage
1/2 cup each chopped carrot and onion
2 minced garlic cloves
1 1/3 cups dried lentils
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon each fennel seeds and fresh rosemary
2 1/2 cups (or more) water
1 big bunch swiss chard, roughly chopped

Saute the sausage over medium heat in a big skillet until cooked through. Add the carrot, onion and garlic, and saute until the veggies begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in all except the chard, bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to medium-low. Let simmer about 20 minutes, or until lentils are done. Stir in the swiss chard and cover, cooking until chard is wilted and tender, maybe 5 minutes. Add more water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Cost: A big bunch of chard runs about $2, maybe a little less, this time of year. Lentils in bulk cost next to nothing; I'm gonna estimate about 40 cents for a cup to a cup and a half. Let's say $2 for however much sausage you put in, plus 50 cents for the rest. A little less than $5 total, and this will serve 4 as a main course, for about $1.25 per serving.

I whipped up a batch of cheese grits (I used gruyere cheese) and served this over top. YUM.

Chard stuffed with risotto

I found this to be a bit labor-intensive, made entirely from scratch--but if you have some leftover risotto, this is a great thing to do with it.

However, the real take-away on this recipe is the risotto itself. More on that in a moment.

To make the stuffed chard, take six or eight big leaves and poach them for a few seconds in broth. Place a ball of risotto, and maybe a chunk of cheese, in the middle of each one and wrap the leaf around the ball. Pack tightly in a casserole dish and pour a little broth in the bottom. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes.

But the risotto recipe was actually more useful. It included saffron dissolved in lemon juice, and made what would have been a plain risotto a very light, summery, citrusy risotto.

Take a small chopped onion and saute in olive oil or butter until translucent over medium heat. Add one cup of arborio rice and cook for another minute. Add broth (chicken or vegetable) a little at a time, stirring almost constantly, until the rice is done (20 minutes or so). Dissolve a pinch of saffron (or turmeric if you don't have saffron) into the juice of one lemon and add that to the rice, along with a handful of grated parmesan, a couple tablespoons of butter, and salt and pepper to taste. At this point you should have a creamy mass. Eat.

While arborio rice is more expensive than the other kinds, risotto is one of those dishes that can be whipped up in under half an hour and makes a wonderfully decadent, rich dinner for very little money. And you can incorporate whatever leftovers you have--greens, herbs, cheese, tomatoes, chicken, seafood, frozen peas, roasted squash or pumpkin, the list goes on and on. Use the above recipe as a basis (perhaps without the lemon juice) and throw in whatever else you've got. One cup of arborio rice plus additions usually equals at least three adult servings as a full meal.