Tangled Branches: Satiated
riveting tales of how we sustain ourselves
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Spicing Up Swiss Chard
This post is as much for my own notes as anything else. I've been searching for ways to tame the earthy flavor of Swiss Chard. So far the most satisfactory experiments have involved one of two things - making sure the chard is not the main ingredient and sticking to spicy Asian-inspired dishes.
Last night's dish was good enough to write down for future reference.
1 clove fresh garlic
equal amount of ginger root
Chop fine in mini-chopper (or mince with a knife).
3 green onions, "onion" part sliced thinly crosswise and "leaf" part sliced thicker
2 small russet potatoes (may have been better with a more waxy, shape-holding potato), peeled and cut into approx 1/2 in dice
Swiss Chard thinnings, stems sliced thinly crosswise and leaves sliced into about 3/4 inch strips
a few small Bronze Fennel sprigs, finely chopped
Heat about a tablespoon of cooking oil on medium or medium-high heat in a large skillet. Sizzle ginger-garlic mixture briefly (try not to let it brown), then add 2 dried red chiles (broken in half) and 1/4 tsp turmeric. Sizzle that a few seconds and add potatoes, green onions, and bronze fennel. Stir until potatoes are well coated with spicy oil, add 1/4-1/2 tsp. ground cumin, 1/4-1/2 tsp. ground coriander seed, 1/2 tsp. salt and a small amount of water. Cover, turn down heat to medium-low, and cook until potatoes are almost cooked through.
Add sliced Swiss Chard, and 1/2 tsp. brown sugar, 1/4 tsp. garam masala (or cinnamon - the Bantry Bay garam masala I had on hand tastes mostly of cinnamon anyway), and a spritz of lemon juice. Let this cook until the Swiss Chard is wilted, adding more water if necessary. There should be a little liquid left in the finished dish, just enough so it's not dry.
I served this with grilled salmon topped with Green Chutney. The Green Chutney was some I made last fall (when fresh chiles and coriander/cilantro were plentiful) and put into the freezer in single-serving containers. Basically, it was a couple of green chiles, a good handful of coriander leaves, a few spearmint leaves, with lime juice and salt to taste, all chopped fine in the mini-chopper.
Labels: chutney, potatoes, salmon, swiss chard
posted by Entangled at 8:17 PM
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