Sautéed chard makes a flavorful side dish to serve along with roasted or grilled fish or poultry. It’s also perfect as a stuffing for pies and quiches, as a pizza topping or as a sauce for pasta. The earthiness of chard plays wonderfully with sweetness of sun dried tomatoes, saltiness and tartness of Kalamata olives, sharpness of garlic and strong, fresh scent of basil.
You will need:
- 2 bunches of rainbow or red chard (a regular bunch consists of about 6-7 large chard leaves or 8-10 smaller ones)
- 2-3 Tbsp olive oil
- 2-3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
- ¼ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes, preserved in oil
- 4-5 large basil leaves, chopped (or take 2 cubes of frozen mashed basil from Trader Joe’s)
- 10-12 pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
Wash the chard leaves thoroughly and shake off as much water as you can. You can pat it dry with paper towels as well. Trim off the stalk ends. If the stalks are too fibrous, peel off the fiber strings like you would do with celery. Slice the leaves in half lengthwise and then widthwise into about 1/3-1/2 inch thick strips.
Pour olive oil in a wide pan and start heating on a medium high heat. Put the chard in right away (as much as fits the pan) and let it heat with the pan. Don’t put chard in hot oil - the water in it may cause oil splatter! Sauté, stirring often, until the chard gets wilted. Add more chard if all of it didn’t fit the pan at once.
Once all the chard gets wilted, taste it (preferably the stalks as they are the toughest part). If it’s still far away from being tender, add a splash of water and cook the chard covered with a lid until it softens. Remove the lid and increase the heat to let the water evaporate quickly. When all the water is gone, add the rest of the ingredients and cook, stirring, for another minute or two. Remove the pan from the heat.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
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