Things to do with swiss chard
We have harvested what could be best described as a metric f***load of swiss chard from the community garden. I've spent countless hours processing it - stripping the leaves from the main stalk, cutting out the ribs (to be used separately), washing and re-washing the useful bits, drying the leaves on dishtowels, then rolling the leaves with paper towels and putting it in the fridge. One bundle of leaves is enough for a sizeable meal; three bundles can fit in a gallon freezer bag. Our vegetable drawers are filled with those bags.
Friends and co-workers have already had their fill of chard from earlier in the season, so there's no giving it away. Even if they did want some, this last batch was on the tail end of the harvest, so it's quite a bit more bitter and doesn't keep as long. We've been hustling to use it all up before it goes bad.
Here's a list of meals that we've made so far (mostly for my own reference in case I find myself in this predicament next year, but also possibly helpful for the other gardeners on my friends list:
* This stuffed shells recipe
* Stir-fried tofu and chard in sesame oil with sriracha over rice
* Pizza with tomato slices, feta, chard, olives, and basil
* Omelets with chard
* Tofu and chard chili
* Sauteed chard with coconut milk, curry powder, and chiles from Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (meh until I combined it with peanut sauce and wheat noodles, then wow!)
* Two giant pots of bean and vegetable soup (but actually mostly chard) for freezing
I've yet to try this Mark Bittman recipe, but it sounds delicious. (We've hardly bought any citrus lately despite living a couple of miles from orange groves - we ought to remedy that before the season is done completely.) I also found this intriguing thread on Chowhound with lots of good ideas.
That said, I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to want to look at swiss chard again until November after we finish this batch.
Friends and co-workers have already had their fill of chard from earlier in the season, so there's no giving it away. Even if they did want some, this last batch was on the tail end of the harvest, so it's quite a bit more bitter and doesn't keep as long. We've been hustling to use it all up before it goes bad.
Here's a list of meals that we've made so far (mostly for my own reference in case I find myself in this predicament next year, but also possibly helpful for the other gardeners on my friends list:
* This stuffed shells recipe
* Stir-fried tofu and chard in sesame oil with sriracha over rice
* Pizza with tomato slices, feta, chard, olives, and basil
* Omelets with chard
* Tofu and chard chili
* Sauteed chard with coconut milk, curry powder, and chiles from Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (meh until I combined it with peanut sauce and wheat noodles, then wow!)
* Two giant pots of bean and vegetable soup (but actually mostly chard) for freezing
I've yet to try this Mark Bittman recipe, but it sounds delicious. (We've hardly bought any citrus lately despite living a couple of miles from orange groves - we ought to remedy that before the season is done completely.) I also found this intriguing thread on Chowhound with lots of good ideas.
That said, I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to want to look at swiss chard again until November after we finish this batch.