Today…I was going to specifically post a question. But (big but here) I took some pictures of things in the garden and decided to add some of those too.
So, question first….
Last week when Omelay commented on my post “Silly Me” about my beet greens she mentioned eating Chard. Now I know many of you also eat, and love, chard and I was wondering if you could direct me to some specific recipes that you all like. A link perhaps? Or a post on your blog(s)? I seem not to have found one that I like yet—steamed and lightly stir fried didn’t do it for me— but as you can see by the pictures of my chard below it is very attractive and doing well. I would love to find a way to enjoy it. So….help please?
Also..notice in one of the pictures that there are two fornicating beetles on my chard. I did not kill them because I was unsure as to who/what they might be. My motto is find out who they are first…kill second. Not the other way around as many do. Could be a good guy you know? They look kind of like a willow leaf beetle but I don’t think that is what they are. Not 100% sure so I will continue my search.
Then there is the beautiful picture of the blueberries and raspberries we picked yesterday and made a cheese cake with. Yum! They are fabulous! Our blueberry bushes are still small so we won’t get much more of a harvest from them. The raspberries however, should yield quite well this year and I am hoping to can some sauces for winter use.
Lastly…our peaches are almost ripe. Yes…very small peach as you can see from the picture (I also have a pretty small hand compared to most other people so you can imagine the size of that peach). Even though they are small…and no we don’t can with them since it’s too much work…they are hands down the BEST flavored peach we have ever eaten. Seriously.
When we first moved here a peach pit from that tree sprouted and we left it to grow. We now have another really great tree. Slightly bigger peaches that the parent, not quite as flavorful as the parent. Still really good though.
Just goes to show that growing fruit from a seed CAN yield a very acceptable (if not better than that) fruit. Try it…you have nothing to lose but the seeds you would have thrown in your compost anyway 🙂
That chard IS gorgeous. I love chard any way, but for those who don’t: I had a two-crust Swiss chard appetizer tart in an Italian restaurant once, which I would like to try when I get my hands on a recipe.
I first tried swiss chard when it came in our CSA share a couple years ago. We found a bunch of recipes that called for steaming it, wilting it, etc. We tried them – but just couldn’t develop a taste for it. Then we found a recipe for swiss chard with lemon and feta – we modified it a little, and I discovered that I really like chard – as long as it’s raw or “almost raw” like it is in this dish. Anyway, I just posted the recipe on my blog the other day – if you try it, hope you enjoy!! Here’s the link to the post –
swiss chard recipe
The beetles look like the Pink Lady Beetle (12-Spotted Lady Beetle), coleomegilla maculata, which is indeed a beneficial insect.
How can you be sure they’re fornicating? They look married to me.
Is that called beetle style?
Dumb question if you don’t like chard why are you growing it? I hated it as a kid, always boiled to death and served slimy. But, now we just chop the stems and saute with garlic and onion and then add the chiffonaded leaf portion, add a little chicken stock and balsamic vinegar and and cook covered (several minutes) until bright green. Wonderful – my kid will eat a pound of this for lunch.
The stems are also good pickled. We got a great recipe from one of the chefs who buys from us. I’ll look for it.
I’m a big chard fan, and here’s what I do with a bumper crop: I chop it all up, put it in my dehydrator and when it’s completely dry, I put it in Ziploc bags and use it all winter. I throw it in spaghetti sauce, soups, stews, with udon noodles (yes, the 3-minute stuff in the bags!!), in scrambled eggs, salad, you name it. Beet greens are also good in this mix (they are of the same family as chard) so it’s a good way to get all your iron to your kids without them knowing it…Patty
I confess, I don’t like chard nearly as much as the brassica greens (even rutabaga leaves). But I still grow it because it’s beautiful, and one leaf/stem really brightens up a stir-fry. And it’s very prolific, so I take huge bouquets of it to the local food bank every summer.
I think I could go on forever with ideas… chard is a staple here. Red only for our tastes. We love it steamed whole, just barely cooked. The stems chop up just like celery, in tiny chunks, for potato or chicken salad or to replace celery in stuffing. Since we do not grow celery, this is key. The leaves can replace spinach in baked dishes or quiches. Crescent Dragonwagon has a lot of stuffed chard-leaf ideas, but we rarely get that fancy. (I own her book, The Passionate Vegetarian!, but I am not a vegetarian myself). When I can spaghetti-style tomato sauce I always put a few leaves of chard in. When I make winter soup I do the same. It can be grown from earliest spring to late late winter and overwintered, too, which makes it economical. There are only a few pests here for it, unlike my kale which I also love but is laced with holes and covered in caterpillars right now.
We grow hundreds of beets, too, and eat the greens in all these same ways.
Those are ladybugs and good for the garden!
What is the difference between chard and rhubarb? Or is there a difference? The plants look the same to me, though coming from someone who knows next to nothing about plants please forgive the dumb question!
I love chard, to me it is close to spinach. I cooked it in a slow cooker. Layered red onion, bulb of fennel both sliced first, drained white beans, 1 cup chicken broth then chicken breasts, roasted red peppers then fill the rest of the way with coursley chopped chard. cover and cook for 6-8 hours. (forgot to list season chicken breasts with rosemary and salt and pepper.)
Oh, chard! A veg near and dear to my heart. My fav way to prepare it is a simple sautee with red onions. I let it cook until the chard gets to that bright green color, and then about 1 minute more. The onions pick up so much of the flavor of the chard, and give their own flavor in return. Of course, I chop the stems right up and use them with the leaves too. Any herb works in this one, but a fav is rosemary.
I find that chard stands up a lot better in cooking than does spinach. In that sense, it is somewhat in between kale and spinach – not as sturdy as kale, but much more substantial than spinach. And I find it has more flavor too.
I also use chard when I am making layered veg dishes, it goes well with new potatoes sliced in rounds. You can also use it in quiche/egg dishes, or even just in some scrambled eggs. A couple of my friends really enjoy it that way, even though I don’t eat eggs myself.
This has been my favorite chard recipe this summer. We can get lovely dried chickpeas at our farmer’s market, and they make a huge difference over canned.
Swiss Chard with Chickpeas and Feta
From Quick Mediterranean Recipes from Clifford A. Wright
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 pounds Swiss chard, leaves rinsed but not dried
4 scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped dill (optional)
2 garlic cloves, minced
One 19-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 400°. Coat an 8-inch-square nonreactive baking dish
with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
Put the chard in a large pot, cover and cook over high heat, stirring
occasionally, until wilted, about 4 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold
water; squeeze dry and coarsely chop. In a medium bowl, toss the chard
with the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil, scallions, dill, garlic and
chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the feta on top
and push the cheese into the greens. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until
sizzling hot. Serve immediately.
ALTERNATE DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven broiler. In a large skillet, add 3 tablespoons of olive
oil, scallions, and garlic. Saute briefly until garlic aromas come from
the pan. Coarsely chop the chard, stems and all, and add to saute pan.
Saute until greens just start to wilt, and add the chickpeas, salt and
pepper. Remove from heat, and stir all until well-mixed. If the skillet is
oven-safe (cast iron), crumble the feta on top and press into the greens,
and bake 5 – 10 min until sizzling hot and cheese is browned (the already-hot pan cuts down
cooking time dramatically). If the skillet is not oven-safe, follow the
original directions above to transfer the chard to a baking dish and cook
in the oven.