Top tip: How to cook Swiss chard...badly!

[VegPlanner]

This year I decided to try growing some vegetables that I hadn't tried before. I reserved a space of 4 feet by 4 feet to grow for one of the varieties I wanted to try; Swiss Chard (the Bright Lights variety). It's a fabulously beautiful plant that comes in all manner of different colours. In my small space I have a variety of colours ranging from whites, yellows and oranges through to pinks and reds (with a hint of purple).

When I attempted to cook this beautiful plant, I steamed it; for twenty minutes. It turned into a green goo.

So, my top tip for all is to not steam chard to twenty minutes; try a couple of minutes instead.

[Lesley Jay]

You need to separate the leaves from the stalks as the stalks are thick and need longer cooking. Try cutting the stalks into chunks and boiling them until tender. Slice the leaves and cook the leaves in a frying pan like spinach with some olive oil and garlic then throw the stalks in the frying pan and mix together.

[VegPlanner]

Thanks for the advice Lesley. I'll give this a try sometime this week and post the results...

[PlantingJoe]

Green goo? Well, I suppose you could have included it in some kind of halloween recipe!

[kunekune]

My favourite recipe for swiss chard at the moment involves neither boiling nor steaming.

Fry some strips of bacon in its own fat (and maybe a wee bit of olive oil or butter if you want) until it is crispy. Wash and finely chop the swiss chard, keeping the firm stalk in the middle for another time ... or if like me you just like the leafy bit, put it in the bin/compost. When the bacon is ready, toss the slightly wet swiss chard into the frying pan and cook until wilted. Take the bacon and swiss chard out, leaving fat behind, and then deglaze the pan with some wine vinegar. Pour this over the bacon & swiss chard and serve.

I also add finely chop swiss chard leafy bits to the tomato sauce for a vegetarian lasagna.

[paulsherwin]

It's basically the same plant as perpetual spinach. The leaves aren't strongly flavoured and any flavour they do have disappears with cooking. You can use the leaves in salads or on sandwiches when they're young and tender, or use them like spinach in pasta dishes or curries. They won't add much taste but provide colour, texture and nutrition.

Paul

[wafflycat]

This is a veg I'm attempting to grow as my general plan is to grow veg I like but in varieties not usually found in the shops and veg I want to try but generally aren't available at all in the shops. So I've got some 'bright lights' at various stages right now.

One recipe I'm gogint ot try out is one which appeared in The Times. URL:-

Swiss chard pastilla pie recipe | Recipes - Times Online

The article relating to the recipe is here:-

Soul food: nuts about chard - Times Online

It looks quite interesting.

[kunekune]

It's a bit more gutsy than spinach if you include the stalk. And not as green tasting. Look for recipes from Australia and New Zealand for silverbeet, it's a garden staple, everyone has heaps of it.