My Mom used to tell me how important leafy greens are for you when I was a child. I was a finicky eater and did not like many vegetables back then. Time has changed that, now, I seem to like everything and I can say vegetables are now, probably my favorite food.
Swiss Chard is not a common leafy vegetable. It has a mild flavor to it compared to spinach which has more of a bitter flavor, somewhat of a bite to it
Swiss Chard origins have nothing to do with being “swiss.” Its origin is in the Mediterranean. It has been known by many names; white beet, seakale beet, leaf beet, spinach beet, Sicilian beet, and roman kale to name just a few.
This vegetable does well in a cooler climate and it likes saline soil. That’s why you will see more of an abundance of swiss chard in the fall and the spring if you live in an existing climate that has a pronounced seasonal changes. You will see this vegetable more abundantly at those times.
I love this vegetable made very simply the way I’m showing you, in this recipe with garlic, a little passata sauce, and just quick steam to meld the flavors together. But it is also good in soups as well.
This dish is very simple to put together; get everything you’re going to need, line up your ingredients, clean your swiss chard giving it a few rinses. Trim off any bad looking spots, trim off the stalk ends and cut into smaller sections.
Brown your garlic, add your passata sauce, depending on the amount of swiss chard you are cooking will depend on the amount of passata sauce you will need; a little goes a long way. You do not want to overwhelm your swiss chard with too much tomato sauce since it will drown out the flavor of the vegetable and garlic.
Cooking is like a symphony of flavor, its a balancing act. When all of these elements come together this is a mark of a seasoned chef. And with Italian food, it has been known that ” less is more with cooking Italian”.
You do not need to have a lot of ingredients to have something taste good. And, if you could be aware of this rule of thumb regularly when cooking for your family; you will have mastered one of the most important elements in the art of cooking.
I hope you give it a try and if you’ve never had swiss chard before, I think you are going to be very pleasantly surprised how good this vegetable is.
A buona salute e buon cibo!!
Swiss chard with garlicky tomato sauce
Swiss chard is high in A,K,and C and it is considered a nutritional powerhouse. It is loaded with fiber too. It has its origins in the Mediterranean and does not have any ties to the Swiss. Putting all stats aside, swiss chard is delicious. I can remember it from my childhood. My Mom would make it when it came into season. I could remember how pretty it was with its shiny green leaves and its bright red stalks. My Mom would tell me how easy it is to cook and how really delicious it was; at that age I was a finicky eater. Wish I could say that now. But it is good that I really do love vegetables. Actually its still really pretty just as I remembered it when Mom use to prepare it.
Ingredients
- 2 bunches swiss chart
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 2/3 cup Passata sauce I use Cento brand Passata Sauce
- olive oil; coat the bottom of saute pan
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
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Cut your swiss chard in large pieces. Soak in water to loosen any dirt. Give it at least 2 to 3 rinses; until water has cleared any dirt.
Cut up your garlic and put in pan along with your olive oil; brown your garlic
Add your Passata sauce to pan and saute for a few minutes
Now your going to add your swiss chard. Push it down to get it all in, then put the lid on until it wilts into the tomato sauce.Also you want to add your salt and pepper now. Let it cook for about 10 minutes, stir and replace your lid and turn the burner off. You are all down. Let it sit in the pot while you finish getting the rest of your dinner together.
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