Week #2 Fenez Follies Farm CSA – What’s in the box? This week’s featured vegetables – Swiss Chard

Sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for…. We wanted some heat – well boy did we get some…now we want some rain. (I know, we farmers are never happy!). Anyway this week we have a few new items, thanks to the heat!

What’s in this week's box:

Carrots

Broccoli

Kale

Swiss Chard

Butternut Lettuce

Mixed Greens

Beets

Radish

Mixed Herbs (Thyme, Basil, Cilantro, Oregano, Dill)

This week’s focus on food?  Chard

Chard is a leafy green vegetable often used in Mediterranean cooking. While the leaves are always green, chard stalks vary in color. Chard has been bred to have highly nutritious leaves at the expense of the root (which is not as nutritious as the leaves). Chard is, in fact, considered to be one of the healthiest vegetables available and a valuable addition to a healthy diet (not unlike other green leafy vegetables).

Chard is a member of the beet family – also referred to as chenopods. Chard is also known by many common names such as Swiss chard, silverbeet, perpetual spinach, spinach beet, crab beet, bright lights (due to the bright and vivid spring colors when they are cooked or provided as a medley of vegetables), seakale beet, and mangold.

Chard can be harvested while the leaves are young and tender, or after maturity, when they are larger and have slightly tougher stems. Raw chard is extremely perishable.

Chard has shiny, green, ribbed leaves, with stalks that range from white to yellow to red, depending on the type.

Fresh young chard can be used raw in salads. Mature chard leaves and stalks are typically cooked or sauteed: their bitterness fades with cooking, leaving a refined flavor which is more delicate than that of cooked spinach.

Swiss chard is high in vitamins A, K, and C with a 175 g serving containing 214%, 716%, and 53%, respectively, of the recommended daily value. It is also rich in minerals, dietary fiber and protein.

Swiss Chard Recipe

Ingredients

·  1 large bunch of fresh Swiss chard

·  1 small clove garlic, sliced

·  2 Tbsp olive oil

·  2 Tbsp water

·  Pinch of dried crushed red pepper

·  1 teaspoon butter

·  Salt

Method

1 Rinse out the Swiss chard leaves thoroughly. Remove the toughest third of the stalk, discard or save for another recipe (see below). Roughly chop the leaves into inch-wide strips.

2 Heat a saucepan on a medium heat setting, add olive oil, a few small slices of garlic and the crushed red pepper. Sauté for about a minute. Add the chopped Swiss chard leaves. Cover. Check after about 5 minutes. If it looks dry, add a couple tablespoons of water. Flip the leaves over in the pan, so that what was on the bottom, is now on the top. Cover again. Check for doneness after another 5 minutes (remove a piece and taste it). Add salt to taste, and a small amount of butter. Remove the swiss chard to a serving dish.

SWISS CHARD STEMS

Do the following:
1. Boil until tender
2. Chop into small pieces
3. Mix Tahini (sesame seed paste) or in a pinch and out of tahini, use peanut butter, lemon juice, a piece of crushed garlic and a little water, salt and pepper. This should be a pourable sauce. Proportions are up to you. I use about 1 large spoon of tahini to 1/2 spoon of lemon juice. This will be VERY THICK. Add water by the spoonful, and stir until the right consistency. Pour this mixture over the cooked, chopped stems. Eat on pita bread or tortillia rolled up. Very tasty.
4. Keep cooked stems in freezer and add to soups, stews, stir frys, mix in rice dishes, and I know you will think of another way.

Enjoy!