Swiss chard with fried capers, olives, and roasted garlic

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Despite that temporary transgression into giant.russian.rumballs, I do cook and eat a lot of greens every day.

And I don’t mean just inventing new ways to enjoy my favorite kale salad {current favorite additions to that include anchovies and a sriracha vinaigrette}.

Here is another simple idea for a swiss chard preparation, with a little salty and briny kick from olives and capers, balanced by the sweetness of roasted garlic.

It makes for a perfectly cozy dish of winter greens.

Tips: I used ‘elephant’ garlic, which are really huge and punchy garlic cloves, hence I only used one. If you are using regular garlic, which is perfectly fine, use about 3 cloves. Don’t worry, roasting the garlic really softens its flavor. 

It is probably easier to use pitted olives but the kind I get are often unpitted – just press on them with the flat of your knife like you would on a garlic clove, and remove the pit.

Swiss chard with fried capers, olives, and roasted garlic

You’ll need:

  • 2 bunches swiss chard, stemmed and trimmed, chopped
  • 1 t capers
  • about 10-12 various olives (green and/or kalamata), chopped roughly
  • 1 clove elephant garlic (or 3 cloves regular garlic)
  • olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Wrap garlic cloves – leave it unpeeled – in aluminum foil and roast for about 30-40 minutes until tender and fragrant.

2. Heat up a tablespoon of olive oil in a large, deep pan. Fry capers and olives for a few minutes – they should be sizzling!

3. Reduce heat to low, add chard and saute gently, stirring often, until just tender but still bright green.

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4. Top with sliced roasted garlic and serve immediately.

What else would be great: add in some rye croutons or toasted pumpkin seeds!

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17 Comments

  1. I like Swiss Chard the best. Of course kale is fabulous and the health benefits are dynamic, spinach and mustard greens are yummy too but for some reason Swiss Chard has always been my favorite green. Besides arugula. I do love arugula 🙂 These greens look delicious Ksenia! Love the mix of fried capers, olives and roasted garlic. Festive!

    1. Thank you, Karista! 🙂 I think it is definitely one of the more versatile of the dark leafy greens, there’s just so much you can do with it and it can take a lot of heat and flavor!

  2. I like to buy the unpitted olives too — but I guess that I’m a peasant because I use the palm of my hand to squish them! Your creative dish incorporates my favourite greens — swiss chard. I’ll have to remember this recipe the next time I’m craving it (swiss chard) because I usually just eat it plain!

    1. I just find it to be a bit easier with a knife for cooking purposes, of course, if I am just eating them, I’ll use my hand too haha!

      Thank you! And so great to hear that so many people are also fans of chard.