Vigorous, delicious, beautiful Swiss chard
I have often seen school gardens with vibrant, beautiful chard leaves left to wither. How sad! Chard belongs to the same family as Spinach (Amaranthaceae), does not have a chalky taste, and can often be used in spinach recipes. This recipe (an adaptation of one of the many variants of Boston Market Creamed Spinach) can be modified in many different ways, including as a creamy sauce over baked chicken or pork, sprinkled with buttered bread crumbs!
INGREDIENTS
- Fresh chard leaves from garden, about 1 very large bowl (about 1.5 gal/6 litre capacity). I don’t use stems but these can be set aside for a stir fry meal.
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1.5 – 2 cups chicken broth, milk or a mixture of both
- 1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese (Parmesan, Romano, Gruyere also do fine)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil (I use mild-tasting non-virgin)
- 2-4 cloves garlic – minced
- 1 medium onion – diced
There are 3 parts in preparing the meal:
- Harvest a very large bowl of chard leaves and steam till cooked but not overdone. Overcooked chard or spinach is yech, so it’s best to undercook. You just want the leaves to soften. You should end up with at least 2 cups of chard. Let drain and cool. Chop them up in large chunks so they’ll be easy to mix in with the sauce.
- Make a roux: Melt ~6 tablespoons of butter. Add ~3 tablespoons of flour. Mix well. Then add 1.5 – 2 cups of chicken broth or milk or a mixture of both. Mix well till smooth. Then add about 1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese (Parmesan, Romano, Gruyere also do fine). The consistency should not be too thick/heavy or too watery.
- In a separate pan, heat about 4 tablespoons of olive oil. When hot, add minced garlic and diced onions till golden or caramelized. Add the chard and saute about 3-5 minutes. Slowly add the roux and mix well. Taste before seasoning with any additional salt. Add spices like pepper and nutmeg to taste.
Bon appetit!
Voilà! A fabulous accompaniment or use it as a flatbread dip
That sounds amazing! My wife and I were going to grow it this year, but we didn’t really know what to do with it, so we passed on it. We’ll definitely grow it next year so I can try this.
That’s great, Christopher! Chard IS a bit of a mystery for many of us, so I’ll continue to post chard recipes this summer.
Sounds delicious! Just waiting for my first harvest of chard from the CSA to try it out!
Thank you very much for sending me the link to this recipe *~*
I shall try it very soon!
Priscilla (Priscilla4 on Twitter)
I’m looking forward to more chard recipes. Will try the creamed chard ~ sounds delicious. I grew up eating enormous amounts of steamed chard during summer ~ my mum always grew enough to feed our family of seven many times over.
And now I’m growing it regularly. I love Bright Lights.
This looks great! I can’t wait to try it when my chard gets a little bigger.
[...] My friends at Plangarden posted the following recipe for Creamed Swiss Chard on their blog. You might want to check it out. It sounds yummy! Possibly related posts: [...]
I made this for dinner tonight–very delicious. I was looking for a way to use up extra asiago cheese i had in the fridge and this was perfect way to highlight its flavor. Thank you!
Most welcome, Shila! Love it when I get ideas on how to creatively use an ingredient.
This was excellent! I used red chard and the sauce was a fabulous wine-red color. This is the first year that I have grown swiss chard, and I have been looking for some good recipes. This one wins, hands down!
So glad you liked it
It’s good soul food on a cold autumn/winter evening, too.