Swiss Chard Tzatziki | Serves 4 – makes about 1 ¼ cup
The ubiquitous Greek garlic-yogurt sauce gets the hearty (and healthy) green addition of lightly cooked
Swiss chard. Serve this dip with pita chips, raw young vegetables, as a sandwich spread, or alongside
roast lamb.
1 cup green or rainbow chard, stemmed and finely
chopped
1 garlic clove
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup low-fat Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 whole-wheat pitas, cut into wedges and toasted*
optional
1. Prepare an ice bath; set aside. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add chard; cook until just
tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain. Immediately plunge into ice bath to stop the cooking. Drain well.
2. Using a mortar and pestle, grind garlic and salt into a paste. (Alternatively, you can use the flat side
of a large chef’s knife to smear it into a paste.) Stir chard, yogurt, garlic paste, oil, lemon juice, and
cayenne pepper in a medium bowl. Taste for seasoning and adjust to fit your taste buds. Serve with
pita wedges, if using. Tzatziki can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 1 week.
Recipe from Martha Stewart
Sautéed Chard with Raisins & Pine Nuts | Serves 2
This is a classic Sicilian side dish, prepared with leafy greens, toasted pine nuts and raisins. It may
sound like an odd combination, but it works; it’s sweet, savory, salty, spicy and just a little bitter. Swiss
chard is especially good prepared this way, but you can easily substitute collard greens, mustards, or
spinach. Any leafy green will do. The best part is that it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare.
1/4 c. pine nuts
2 T olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c. golden raisins
1 big bunch chard, tough stems removed and
discarded, greens chopped
1/2 to 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
About 1/2 c. dry white wine or water
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Heat a large sauté pan hot on medium-high heat and add the pine nuts. Toast them until they are
fragrant and begin to brown. Pay attention as pine nuts burn easily. Stir or toss the nuts frequently.
Once toasted, remove from pan and set aside.
2. Add the olive oil to the pan and swirl it around. Add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds; the pan
should already be hot, so it won't take long for the garlic to begin to brown. Add back the pine nuts,
add the raisins and the greens and mix well. Sauté, stirring often, until the greens wilt and begin to
give up some of their water, anywhere from 1-2 minutes for spinach to 4-5 minutes for chard, collards
or kale.
3. Sprinkle a little salt and red pepper flakes on the greens. Add the white wine (or water). Toss to
combine and let the liquid boil away. Once the liquid boils off, remove from heat. Add salt and pepper
to taste and serve immediately.
Alice Waters’ Chard Gratin | Serves 4
When you just haven’t been able to get through the bounty of Spring greens in your CSA share, this is a
great recipe to turn to. It works equally well with spinach, turnip greens, or collard greens, and it couldn’t
be easier.
1 1/2 bunches of chard
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons melted butter
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced
Salt
2 teaspoons flour
1/2 cup milk
A few strokes of freshly grated nutmeg
1. Wash and stem the chard. Save half the stems and slice them thin. Bring 2 quarts of salted water to a
boil and cooked the sliced stems for 2 minutes. Add the chard leaves and cook until tender, about 3
minutes. Drain and cool. Gently squeeze out the excess liquid from the stems and leaves and
coarsely chop them.
2. Toss together the breadcrumbs and the melted butter. Toast on a baking sheet in a 350-degree oven,
stirring now and then, until lightly brown, about 10 minutes.
3. Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed pan and add the diced onion.
Cook over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chard and season with salt.
Cook for 3 minutes. Sprinkle with the flour and stir well. Then add the milk and nutmeg and cook for 5
minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more milk if the mixture gets too thick. The chard should be moist
but not floating in liquid. Taste and add salt if needed.
4. Butter a small baking dish. Spread the chard mixture evenly in the dish and dot with the remaining
butter, cut into bits. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly over the top. Bake in a 350-degree oven until
the gratin is golden and bubbling, 20 to 30 minutes.
Recipe by Alice Waters
Rigatoni with Swiss Chard | Serves 4
Swiss chard is sautéed with garlic, shallots, and lemon zest, and then allowed to simmer in white wine
until tender. Tossed with creamy ricotta cheese and pine nuts, this makes a satisfying vegetarian pasta
dish. You can also substitute half of the chard for another leafy green, such as kale or collards. Mustard
greens would provide a nice kick of flavor and nutrition, too.
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 lb. rigatoni, or other tubular pasta
2 T unsalted butter
3 T extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 medium shallots, finely chopped
about 1 ½ lbs. Swiss chard (or a mixture of chard
and kale or collards), leaves cut into 1/2-inch strips
and stems cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 T finely grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/3 c. fresh ricotta cheese
1/3 c. (about 1 1/2 ounces) pine nuts, toasted (*or
substitute walnuts)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons salt and the pasta; cook 3 minutes less than
package indicates. Drain.
2. Heat butter and oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat about 1 minute. Add garlic and shallots;
cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in chard, lemon zest, wine, 1 teaspoon salt, and the
red pepper flakes; season with pepper. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until chard has just
wilted, 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Stir in pasta, ricotta, and pine nuts. Cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta is al dente, 3 to 4 minutes.
Divide among 4 serving dishes. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan.
Recipe by Martha Stewart
Roasted Garbanzo Beans with Garlic & Swiss Chard | Serves 6
We’ve been trying to increase the legumes we eat, and the nutlike taste and buttery texture of garbanzo
beans (chickpeas) makes it very easy to keep them in the rotation! And did you know that just two cups
of garbanzo beans deliver the daily value of fiber our bodies need? This recipe is a cinch to prepare, but
the end results are so deeply flavorful and satisfying, none of your guests will be able to tell how effortless
it was to pull off. The addition of Swiss chard contributes even more vitamins and nutrients to the dish—
vitamins K, A, and C—making this a recipe worth returning to again and again.
For the garbanzo beans:
2 15-ounce cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas),
drained (about 3 cups) – look for low sodium
10 garlic cloves, peeled
2 large shallots
3 small bay leaves, preferably fresh
1 tsp. fennel seeds
1 1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
For the chard:
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed
3 small bay leaves, preferably fresh
2 shallots, sliced
1 – 2 bunches Swiss chard, center stems cut out,
leaves coarsely torn or chopped
2 cups low-salt chicken broth
1. For the garbanzo beans: Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine first 5 ingredients in 8x8x2-inch glass
baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour oil over; cover dish with foil. Roast until garlic is
tender, about 45 minutes. (DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly, cover, and chill.)
2. For the chard: Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic, bay leaves, and shallots.
Cover; cook until shallots are tender, about 2 minutes. Uncover; add half of chard. Toss until chard
wilts and volume is reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add remaining chard. Toss until chard wilts,
about 2 minutes. Add broth. Cover and cook until chard is tender, stirring occasionally, about 10
minutes. Season chard with salt and pepper. Transfer chard mixture to large sieve set over bowl and
drain. (DO AHEAD: Can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)
3. Drain garbanzos and reserve oil; discard bay leaves. Combine garbanzos and chard in large skillet.
Add 2 tablespoons oil reserved from garbanzos. Toss over medium heat until warmed through,
moistening with more oil by tablespoonfuls if needed, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper
and serve.
Recipe by Michael Psilakis from Bon Appetit
Farm Egg Frittata with Greens | Serves 4 to 6
In Nice this omelet is called a truccha, made most often with Swiss chard. The frittata can be quickly
thrown together if you make a point of washing and cooking the greens—blanching them in salted boiling
water, refreshing in cold water, then draining and squeezing out excess water—when you get them home
from the market. Once blanched, store in a covered bowl in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. The dish
works best with the more tender greens like chard, beet greens, and spinach.
1 # Swiss chard (any color), beet greens, or
spinach
Kosher salt
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
Ground black pepper
8 large eggs, preferably free-ranging
2 tablespoons whole milk (1% or 2% will work, too)
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat while you stem and wash the greens in two changes
of water. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, salt generously and add the
greens. Blanch spinach for just 30 seconds, chard and beet greens for 1 minute, or until tender.
Transfer to the ice water. Let sit for a few minutes, then drain, squeeze dry, and chop.
2. Heat 1 T of the oil in a 10-inch nonstick (*and oven proof) skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic.
Cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until coated with oil. Season to taste with salt
and black pepper and remove from the heat.
3. Beat the eggs in a bowl. Stir in ½ teaspoon salt, ground black pepper to taste, the milk, and the
greens.
4. Clean and dry your pan and return to the stove. Heat over medium-high heat and add the remaining
1 T of oil. When the oil feels hot when you hold your hand above it, drizzle a drop of the eggs in. If
they sizzle upon contact, the pan is ready. Pour in the egg mixture, scraping every last bit out of the
bowl with a rubber spatula. Swirl the pan to distribute the eggs and filling evenly over the surface.
Shake the pan gently, tilting it slightly with one hand and using a spatula held in your other hand to lift
up the edges of the frittata, allowing the eggs to run underneath during the first few minutes of
cooking. Reduce the heat to low and cover the pan. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, shaking the pan
occasionally, until the frittata is just about set. Meanwhile, preheat the boiler.
5. If the frittata is not quite set on the top, place under the broiler, about 3 inches from the heat, watching
closely, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until set. It’s fine if it’s just beginning to color. Do not allow the eggs to
brown too much or they’ll taste bitter.
6. Remove the frittata from the heat. Allow it to sit in the pan for 5 minutes or longer, then carefully slide
the frittata onto a platter, or cut into wedges in the pan and serve.
Recipe by Martha Rose Shulman, from The Very Best of Recipes for Health