Saffron and Honey

Simple suppers: stuffed swiss chard leaves

January 11, 2013 — black vinegar, Blanch, brown mushrooms, Carrot, Chard, Dinner, ginger, mushroom, onion, Sesame oil, stuffed, swiss chard, Vegetable

Easily the healthiest dish you’ll make this week, these stuffed swiss chard leaves are a wonderful main course where you can adapt the filling to include other veggies you may want.

Tips: Cut the vegetables in a small dice, but don’t do it too finely, just as long as they are all about the same size – this way they cook evenly but still have a nice bite inside of your swiss chard ‘roll.’

You can also make a quick dipping sauce for these made with ginger, sesame oil, and black vinegar.

Stuffed swiss chard leaves

You’ll need:

• 1 bunch swiss chard, trimmed, de-stemmed and/or with stems ‘shaved off’ using your knife
• 2 cups brown mushrooms (I used baby bellas), chopped
• 1 medium sized carrot, diced
• 1 medium sized white onion, diced
• 1/2 t thyme
• olive oil
• salt, pepper

optional: black vinegar, sesame oil, and 1 t fresh ginger for dipping sauce

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and prepare an ice bath. Blanch the swiss chard leaves for 1 minute, then transfer to ice bath to seal in that bright green color. Let cool, lay flat, and pat to dry.

2. In a large pan, heat up approximately 2 tablespoons of olive oil, add onions and carrots first, let them heat up, then add mushrooms and thyme. Also add any smaller chard leaves, chopped roughly, that may have been too small to blanch for wrapping.

Cook for about 10 minutes, season. You should cook the vegetables until onion is soft and golden, the mushrooms are nicely browned, but the carrot still has a bit of a crunch.

3. Spoon filling into the middle of each swiss chard leaf and wrap up tightly, folding in the sides. Serve warm, with dipping sauce on the side.

Ps. As ever, more pictures over on the facebook page!