Meet one of my favourite foods.
Now you see chard, or bleda in Catalan, never really appeared on my radar until I got here, but it is so beautiful, and green and shiny it is almost irresistible. I asked the market ladies how to cook it...they said boil it, put on some good olive oil, a little salt, and eat. They are absolutely right. It is AWESOME. I eat an entire bunch a couple of times a day right now....
mmmmmmmm.
13 comments:
never had them like that. I wasn't too fond of my mother's way of cooking them. I can't recall exactly how she was doing it, though :/
I think I've had chard before...maybe in a home made oriental dish. Sounds yummy though.
I've never had chard....but the way you describe it, it sounds gooooood! Anything with olive oil's gotta be good, right?
elPadawan, I break ALL the rules with when I make it...your SUPPOSED to cook the stems and greens seperately, your SUPPOSED to slice it up small...blah blah blah...get really good bleda, cut it in half..I mean the bunch, horizontally, put it in the sink to soak...boil the water and bung the whole mess in..boil it for a while, till the stems go soft. Fork it out of the pot...no fancy draining here...get out the good olive oil, and some salt and set too. It is SO good. SO SO good.
Sirdar, I more often see the chard with the red stems, here it is white...whatever....I love it.
Beth, yes indeedy. Olive oil makes everything better. I suspect good chard does too....
YEES indeed - I agree - the decisive ingredient is the chard itself with incredibly delicious olive oil!!!
I'm impatiently waiting for home grown spinach to reappear at the local market!
Went too late last Saturday, only to be told by 'my organic farmer' (an incredibly optimistic and bouncy old lady whose zest for life is contagious!!!) that a friend who runs Riga's best "slow food" restaurant had just bought up her whole supply.
He then appeared and razzed me about his good luck and my being lazy and getting up so late.
Love the baby photos and the memories of babysitting that brings back.
Haven't had time to look every day.
So glad people are slowly learning that children's rights are to be taken seriously.
Why should a child endure being pinched and kissed by well-meaning strangers??
Shaking hands with them is bad enough - that's considered a sign of being well-bred here. Cheers, GM
Yum yum.... But several times a day!! you are keen. The spinach here is not so great - I tried and tried, but no matter how much I wash it there is still that unpleasant crunch ... blerk. Have you tried curly kale? My mother in law does this and it is fabulousity itself.
That actually sounds very appealing. More importantly (for me) very simple.
(And, hey, I have yet to receive a recipe!)
We eat chard a lot. We chop it up and then throw it into a pressure cooker with some chopped potato (though you can use a regular pot) and cook until tender, then yep, olive oil and a touch of salt (I like to add a splash of basalmic vinegar as well.) But if you want to get even fancier, you can adapt the catalan spinach dish and sautee the cooked chard and potato with some pine nuts and raisins. Yum!
And my favorite way to make it is to serve the cooked chard over quinoa with some tahini sauce (tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, some water to thin it out.)
My MIL loves this vegetable for its laxative properties, but I think it just tastes good. Looks like the bunch you got was super fresh!
GM, how much did you babysit me when I was a kid??? My kids didn't like it very much when they were manhandled for a while, but it isn't too bad here...
Lynda, Kale...now that I haven't found here, nor, despite trying, have I found a recipe I really LOVE...plus it takes so darned long to cook...I should give it another go when I am in Canada again...
Beth, It is super easy...and I don't know why you haven't received any recipes..I have gotten a bunch...
Kate...you have mentioned the tahini recipe before, I've got to give it a go....and the Catalan spinach...that is sooooo good.
I like chard and I have grown it before, likely with the red stems. I like beet leaves too, and now I am really looking forward to my garden come summer.
Ooo, fresh from the garden, that would be even better....mmmmmm
Post a Comment