Conscious Choice: Chard of Many Colors

June 2002 | Cooking with the Seasons

Chard of Many Colors

by Terra Brockman

Apart from its unfathomable name, Swiss chard is a perfect vegetable — a low-calorie, high-vitamin green with a mildly sweet and earthy taste. It used to be that the only chard you could buy had dark green leaves and white stems. Commercial growers mono-cropped this because it was the most productive variety.

But chards of many colors were noted in the earliest written records of Arabs, Greeks, and Romans. Aristotle mentioned red chard around 350 B.C., and Theophrastus knew two kinds — the white, called Sicula (from Sicily) and the black (or dark green) variety. These ancient colored chards have been revived by specialty seed companies such as Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Albion, Maine. Now you can buy a startling array of white, yellow, magenta, cotton candy pink, orange, and ruby stems in mixtures with evocative names such as Bright Lights and Rainbow Chard. These varieties have skyrocketed in popularity and you will almost certainly find them at your local farmers’ market.

About that name — it is the "Swiss" part that no one seems to be able to make sense of. The word chard derives from the Latin and French words for thistle (cardon, carde), whose spiny head might indeed be used for carding wool. The cardoon is in the thistle family, but chard is not. It seems that the words carde and cardon gradually came to refer to the stalk of any vegetable, whether chard or cardoon. The present name comes from some nineteenth-century seed catalogs that used "Swiss" to distinguish chard from French charde or chardon. Why Swiss? Who knows?

The Great Stem Debate

No, I’m not referring to stem cells, but to the stems and leaves of chard. The Atlantic Ocean forms a great divide regarding which part of chard should be used. American recipes often instruct you to discard the stems, while French or Italian recipes often instruct you to use the stems and reserve the leaves for another purpose. That purpose was revealed by the great food writer Richard Olney who wrote in Simple French Food (1977) that "the green leafy parts...are usually fed to the rabbits and the ducks."

I’m sure they make a fine treat for rabbits and ducks, but both leaves and stems are delicious and both can be used for humans — even in recipes specifying one or the other.

Simple Rainbow Chard

1 bunch (about 1 pound) multicolored chard
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Slice stems on the diagonal about one-half-inch wide. Coarsely slice leaves.

2. Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a wide casserole dish or pan. Stir in the stems, cover, and cook over low heat until tender, about five minutes. Add leaves and stir. Cover and cook over moderate heat until tender, another three to four minutes.

3. Remove to a serving dish and drizzle with the remaining oil and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper if desired. Makes two servings.

Mediterranean Ruby Chard

2 pounds ruby chard
2 cups water
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon capers
1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
1/4 cup raisins or currants
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons toasted pine nuts

1. Wash chard and cut the stems into one-inch lengths. Roughly chop the leaves.

2. Combine stems, water, lemon juice, and one tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet. Simmer, covered, until half cooked, about seven minutes. Add capers and half the garlic. Cover and simmer until stems are very tender, five to ten minutes, depending on the age of the chard.

3. Transfer the stems to a serving dish and toss with one tablespoon of oil. Arrange them in the center of the dish.

4. Add leaves to skillet, with the remaining tablespoon of oil, the remaining garlic, raisins, and olives. Simmer, covered, until the leaves wilt, about two minutes. Uncover and simmer, stirring often, until tender, about seven minutes. Raise the heat to evaporate most of the liquid. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Arrange the leaves around the stems. Serve warm or at room temperature, sprinkled with pine nuts. Makes four servings.

Italian Swiss Chard

2 pounds Swiss chard, rinsed, trimmed, and chopped coarse
2 cloves garlic
Sea salt and hot red pepper flakes (or freshly ground black pepper)
2-4 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. Place the chard, with plenty of water still clinging to it, in a large stockpot and set on medium-high heat. When the chard begins to sizzle stir it and cover. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the chard is wilted but still has texture and the leaves have turned dark green, about fifteen minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Heat at least two tablespoons of oil with the garlic in a skillet over medium heat and cook until the garlic begins to turn golden, about five minutes.

3. Add the chard, squeezing out some of the liquid before putting it into the oil. Cook, stirring, until the chard has wilted entirely and the garlic is cooked through, about ten to fifteen minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the chard to a warmed platter. Drizzle it with the remaining olive oil and serve. Makes four servings.

Italian Chard and Herb Tart

1 pound Swiss chard
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 15-ounce container whole-milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh oregano
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 17.3-ounce package frozen puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed

1. Cook the chard in large pot of boiling salted water until just wilted, about two minutes. Drain. Squeeze out liquid. Chop the chard.

2. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté for one minute. Add the chard; sauté until the excess liquid evaporates, about five minutes. Transfer the chard mixture to large bowl. Cool slightly.

3. Mix in the ricotta, Parmesan, eggs, and herbs and spices.

4. Position a rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 375 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface roll out one pastry sheet to a fourteen-inch square. Transfer pastry to nine-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Trim edges, leaving a one-inch overhang.

5. Fill the pastry with the chard mixture. Lightly brush the overhang with a pastry brush that has been dipped into water. Roll out a second pastry sheet to a thirteen-inch square. Using the tart pan as your guide, trim the pastry square to a ten-inch round. Drape it over the filling. Seal the edges and fold in.

6. Bake until pastry is golden brown, about forty-five minutes. Cool ten minutes. Remove pan sides from tart. Transfer to platter. Cut into wedges and serve. Makes six servings.

Italian Savory Chard Custard

12 cups chard (or a mixture of chard and other greens such as spinach, arugula, beet greens, etc.)
5 Tablespoons butter
1 onion or 4-6 shallots, chopped
2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
4 large eggs, beaten
2 cups fine bread crumbs

1. Blanch the greens in boiling salted water for two to three minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. Squeeze out excess water, then coarsely chop the greens.

2. Melt the butter in a sauté pan and cook the onions or shallots until they are translucent. Add the chopped greens and sauté for five minutes. Set aside.

3. In a large saucepan, warm the milk and cream over a low flame. Stir in the Parmesan, salt, pepper, vinegar, eggs, and bread crumbs. Blend all ingredients with a wire whisk until smooth, keeping the mixture below a simmer.

4. Add the greens and onion to the milk mixture. Stir to blend. Pour the mixture into a buttered casserole.

5. Bake in a 375 degrees F. oven for thirty-five minutes, or until the custard begins to draw away from the sides of the mold. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes eight servings.

Terra Brockman is the director of The Land Connection Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving farmland and promoting small-scale, diversified, organic agriculture in Illinois. Visit www.thelandconnection.org or call 309-965-2407 to learn how to get involved.

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