Swiss Chard

Swiss Chard is not something I cook very often.  I had a friend offered some Swiss Chard from her garden, and I thought OK, lets give it a try.  I'm going to treat them like Greens, something I do make fairly often.  Swiss Chard is somewhere between Celery, and Mustard, and maybe sort of like Spinach too.  It has thick Celery like Stalks, and big fibrous leaves.  It  wants a slow braise.

First you want to clean them thoroughly, then separate the stalks from the leaves.  I chopped the stalks into large pieces, and the leaves into one inch sections.  The leaves will simmer down to almost nothing, sort of like Spinach.  So you'll need a lot of Swiss Chard to make a batch of Greens.

Like with the other Greens I make, I'm going to start with Butter, Onions, Sea Salt, Red Pepper, and Black Pepper.  Let them saute a while in the sauce pan

Then I add the Swiss Chard Stalks, and keep simmering.  Both the leaves, and stalks of the Swiss Chard are relatively bitter when they are raw.  They can possibly be used in a salad if you like the bitterness, some people do.  But, definitely try them cooked as greens.  They could possibly be even better if I had made them as Southern Greens with a Ham Hock, and Cornbread.

I let those simmer on low heat for 10, or 15 minutes, then added a couple cups of Chicken Stock.  At this point cover the pan, and let the Chicken Stock come up to a simmer.  Then we'll dump in the Swiss Chard leaves, and let the Swiss Chard Greens finish off for about 5 minutes.

I maybe added a little too much Chicken Stock, and the Greens were a little soupy, but I don't mind.  You can add some filler as you are eating them.  I had these with some Garlic and Mushroom Egg Noodles, and a couple slices of Rustic Toscana Bread.  Great for an impromptu Monday Dinner.