The Food Diaries

Rainbow chard, prepared Greek-style

These are such beauties, and certainly more inspiring than the regular green and white variety of chard. I like to keep it pretty quick and simple, the better to keep the colours of the stalks and leaves vibrant and bright. This Greek-inspired recipe should work equally well with beet leaves.

After rinsing the chard separate the chard into two piles, the leaves in one and the stalks in the other.

Take the rinsed chard leaves (1 large bunch) and place in a large pan with a small amount of water (1/4 cup), cover and steam for a few minutes till the leaves start to wilt a little. Uncover, let any remaining water evaporate, and add 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, a glug of olive oil and the juice of 1/2 of lemon. Season with sea salt and pepper and stir around.Remove from heat and serve at room temperature.

For the stalks, serve them crostini style as in the following recipe.

Whole wheat spaghetti with red & yellow swiss chard

Swiss chard is one of those vegetables that can seem a bit daunting - not very neatly packaged (all those large leaves and stalks!) and somehow not quite as versatile as spinach. A shame though, as chard, particularly the red and yellow stalked variety are so pretty and much more robust than spinach.

Here’s a great way to use up a LOT of chard. The quantities below are per person.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In the meantime, strip the leaves of three stalks of swiss chard (around 250g), making sure that they have been well rinsed before and set aside. Finely chop the stalks (around 1/2 cup) and set aside. Layer the leaves one on top of the other, roll up into a neat package and slice thinly into a chiffonade (see photo above).

Cook 100g of whole wheat spaghetti according to package instructions (should be around 10 minutes). You can use regular spaghetti but the flavours will be a little less robust.

Fry 2 finely chopped garlic cloves in some olive oil for about 30 seconds before adding the stalks. Stir around and continue cooking for about 5 minutes on a medium-low heat. Finally add the leaves and cover till the leaves have wilted. Season with sea salt, pepper, chili flakes, a little lime zest and the juice of 1/2 a lime.

Drain the pasta when al dente and return to the pot. Add the swiss chard and stir around till well incorporated. Add some shredded parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil and serve straight away.