Ingredient: Swiss Chard


» Jump to recipes using Swiss Chard as an ingredient

Overwhelmed with greens in your share?  During the influx of seasonal greens, Jess usually starts a pot of boiling water after she gets home. After going over the meal plan for the week, fill a big bowl with ice and water and clean the veggies you’ll be freezing while waiting for the large pot of water to boil.  Meanwhile, visit this website from the National Center for Home Preservation or a similar website to be reminded of blanching times for each veggie. Next, send each prepared veggie through the boiling water for it’s allotted time, then into the ice water to stop the cooking process.  Next it’s into the colander to drain, then into the freezer bags (or a FoodSaver if you’ve got one).  Once the water is boiling, everything moves very quickly, quite like an assembly line.  Unless you’re doing a major amount of veggies, you don’t have to change the boiling or blanching water in between veggies. imageThough you may be growing weary of the abundance of certain veggies at present, they can definitely be a sight for sore eyes during the winter months! 


Recipes Using Swiss Chard

White Bean and Swiss Chard Soup

I wish I could take credit for this one, but it’s adapted from Gwyneth Paltrow’s clean eating recipe collection called “It’s All Good”. Guess what? She’s right! This buttery rich soup is full of flavor and none of the bad stuff. It’s also a great use for all that slow cooker veggie broth we’ve been making from the veggie scraps!
It’s also a very flexible recipe ingredient-wise. No leeks? No problem! No chard? Just about any other leafy green will do! Canned or prepped dried beans work here. Make this one your own and enjoy!


Ricotta Chard Toasts with Sausage

Sarah whipped this dinner together on the fly, but it turned out to be noteworthy! Pick up a crusty french bread and let it sop up that ricotta and sausage goodness. The veggies put this simple supper over the top! Your choice of cheese as a topper makes this a hearty meal. Sarah used garlic powder as that’s what she had on hand, but if you have the real deal available, mince it up!


Swiss Chard Bread

Pizza dough is needed for this one. You can add Kalamata olives, Parmesan cheese, or go full-on stromboli. Make it your own, it’s flexible and that’s why we like it!